After the Dark
by Lapin de la Flouve
Summary: Sometimes you need help keeping the darkness at bay. Hermione and Severus never expected to find that help in each other. Ignores epilogue otherwise compliant with books. rated T for a couple curse words. This story is complete and I will be posting a little at a time. Please R
1. Chapter 1

It was over. Voldemort was dead and Harry was still alive. Hermione looked at Harry as they made their way to Gryffindor tower. It was just the two of them. Ron decided to go back to his family saying he would see them in a bit. She knew she should be happy but there was something that just didn't sit right with her. Snape had given Harry a memory. Although she still wasn't sure on exactly all the details. Whatever it was about, she knew that their victory today was resultant of the action. The way Snape kept trying to get Voldemort to let him go to Harry made her think that it was more out of following Dumbledore's orders than trying to serve Voldemort.

She reached out and grabbed Harry's hand, causing him to stop.

"Harry I have to know, what did Snape give you? What was in that memory?"

Harry hesitated before answering. He had no intent to give the specifics but he knew that Hermione wouldn't leave him alone unless she got some kind of answer.

"Hermione, it was what was needed to win. He was always on our side, and it was his last way to help us."

"But, but what about Dumbledore? I mean he killed him."

Harry hesitated, "Yes he did. He didn't want to through. He didn't do it on Voldemort's orders, he did it because Dumbledore made him promise to do it."

He let out a sigh and tuned away, continuing his trek to the tower.

Hermione stared at his retreating back trying to process what she had just heard. _Snape was the reason Harry was able to beat Voldemort? Dumbledore had ordered Snape to kill him? And we, I, just left him in the shrieking shack._

"I'll meet you up there. I have something I have to do." She choked out and turned, hurrying back down the corridor. Once on the ground floor she broke into a run, past the crowded Great Hall and out the door. In a short period of time she had made it to the front gates. Pushing through them, she apparated the second she felt herself out side of the school's magic.

She was facing the shrieking shack, trying to prepare herself for what lay within. Slowly she made her way inside and up the stairs. She hesitated at the door. If what Harry said was true then the man laying inside there deserved so much more than he was given; but then again so had so many others that day.  
There was no turning back; she had made up her mind. She was going to make sure that he was laid to rest alongside all the other brave warriors that had died that day. She approached the body trying hard not to feel sick at the sight of him lying in a puddle of his own blood. He had managed to become even whiter than he had been in life even though there was a tint of green on one side of his neck. Upon getting closer she noticed that something was different from when she, Harry, and Ron had left him there. The open wound from Nagini's bite was no longer open. Although done rather poorly, the wound was closed.

_Dead people don't heal. _She thought bending over him.

There were still some small spots that were bleeding.

_Dead people don't bleed. _Her eyes opened wide with shock. She placed her hand gently on his chest and felt it slightly rise and fall.

Severus Snape was still alive.

"Oh my God!" she breathed. This wasn't possible. She had watched him die, seen him go limp. Of course, she had also seen Harry's lifeless body that night as well. But Harry hadn't really been dead. She racked her brain for information from earlier that evening. Had anyone checked him? Harry had taken the memory but did any of them really make sure that he was dead before leaving him? No, none of them had done it. They had simply left him for dead.

She needed to do something. She knew she needed to go for help but she was afraid to leave him. She had already done that once today and she was not prepared to do it again. She needed to get the poison out of him. She could see it spreading out from the wound, turning his skin a sickly green color.

She didn't have anti-venom on her so what was there for her to do? The first thing that popped into her head was the image of a man being bitten by a snake on a TV show at her parents place. The other man had sucked the poison out of the wound saving the first man's life. She knew that she couldn't possibly suck the giant snakes poison out of his body. But what if she could lift it out? It might not save him but it might buy her some time.

Placing her hands on his neck she concentrated all her energy on his body, trying to feel the poison. She had never done anything like this before but she had spent enough time in the hospital wing during her six years at Hogwarts to have picked up a few of Madame Pompfrey's tricks. She could feel it penetrating his body, working its way through the blood stream. She wasn't sure how to pull the poison out but she had to try. He was going to die if she didn't.

Keeping one hand on his neck she gently touched her wand to the wound. Placing all her might into this one spell, she slowly spoke the word Accio and prayed that her intent to do this slowly would work. Staring hard at his neck she saw that around the wound became a darker shade of green and something other than blood was now trying to seep out of the open spots on his neck. She needed to open the wound again to get out the poison. She looked around for something she could use to carefully slice open his skin. The only cutting spells she knew were _diffindo_ which she didn't think would work on a person and _sectumsempra_ which was too powerful to use him. As it was she didn't think he could afford to lose any more blood let alone the amount that would come out of that hateful spell. She looked around the room and found a large rock. She pointed her wand at it sharpening it and cleaning it. She picked up the rock and carefully made a cut with the sharpened part along the side of his neck. A small amount of poison streamed out onto the floor. Not much came out but it was better than nothing. Seeing more blood than poison was starting to come out of the wound she muttered a healing charm to heal the small cut. Because of the venom she couldn't get the skin to close. She ripped off part of her jacket to tie around his neck. Why hadn't she been able to heal it? Thinking back, she remembered when Mr. Wesley had been attacked by the snake. His wound had been unable to heal until they had the antidote.

He stirred and let out a groan interrupting her thoughts.

"Professor" Hermione called out tentatively. "Professor, can you hear me? I'm going to go get Madame Pompfrey." She gave his arm a squeeze before turning to leave. Snape caught up her hand and held tight. "No" he said faintly.

She turned back to him. _No, how could he be saying no. Didn't he know she was trying to save his life?_  
"Professor you need help."

"No help. No one else. "

Unsure of what to do, Hermione decided to do what he said. She thought of taking him to his house, but even if she managed to get out of him where he lived he didn't have enough strength to guide her apparation. She would have to take him somewhere she knew. Pointing her wand at him once more she said "_Mobilicorpus_." He lifted off the ground with a painful grunt. She stood next to him and allowed the spell to stop placing all his weight on her. She spun in place and disappeared from the dark shack.

TBC

A/N: Hey everyone this is my first attempt at a H/S fic. This was my Nano fic for the year and my first ever completed (over 3 chapters) story. I will post quite often hope you enjoy it!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here is chapter two. Please review!

With a loud crack Hermione appeared in her parent's bedroom. She rolled Snape off of her shoulders onto the bed. His breath was coming in shuddering gasp. The trip had been hard on him and she needed to get him some blood replenishers and pain potions. The only problem was that it was the middle of the night and a war had just finished so she didn't know where to go. She seriously doubted that St. Mungo's would have the antidote to the snake venom on hand.

She leaned over him and gently roused him, "Professor, I need to get you some potions. I need to know where to go."

He mumbled an address out in Spinners End. He was directing her to his house.

She quickly memorized the address. Knowing there was no way she could apparate to a new location she did the next best thing. With a pop she arrived on the doorstep of number 12 Grimmauld Place. She managed to slip through the front door without waking the portrait of Mrs. Black and made her way into the kitchen. Stopping in front of the fireplace she said the address at Spinner's End and stepped into the flames.

She stepped out of the grate into a dark living room covered from floor to ceiling with books. If Hermione hadn't been is such a hurry she would have lost herself in the multitude of bindings around her. She checked the lavatory, his bedroom, and the kitchen with no sign of any kind of potions. Noticing a door in the back corner of the kitchen she yanked it open and found a flight of stairs. _A basement, of course. _She thought bitterly. He would have to have someplace that stayed at a constant cool temperature for brewing. There was a reason potions class was in the dungeon at Hogwarts.

At the bottom she came across a small potions lab with two cupboards. In one she found a full supply of ingredients and in the other what she was looking for. Digging through the second cupboard she pulled out several vials of blood replenishers and pain potions, as well as several different kinds of anti-venom. On her way back to the stairs she notices an old journal sitting on the desk. On an impulse she grabbed it and flipped through a few pages. It was Snape's personal potion journal with a plethora of different potions he had either created or was in the process of making. Shoving it into her bag along with the potions she ran up the stairs back into the kitchen. She made sure to take a good look at the kitchen so that next time she could just directly apparate to his house.

Returning to her parent's bedroom she uncorked a bottle, tilted Snape's head back and poured the contents down his throat. He choked, then swallowed; shuttering slightly as it went down. Hermione stared at him waiting for some effect. After a few moments she noticed a hint of color return to his face. Feeling a small bit of her apprehension melt she also administered a pain potion and a sleeping draught hoping that some rest would help in the healing process and perhaps buy her some more time.

Sitting down in her mother's reading chair she opened the stolen journal and began to search through it. There had to be something in there that could reverse the effects of the poison. After all she highly doubted that a person like Snape would spend twenty years working for a sadistic monster with a large poisonous snake for a pet without finding something to counteract a bite. In the middle of the book she found what she was looking for. However, there were several lines crossed out and spell notations on the side. Apparently, Voldemort had managed to change the make-up of the snake's venom after Mr. Weasley had been cured. Naturally, he wouldn't want an antidote floating around that could take away a bit of his power over others. Turning the page she found another anti-venom. The ink was less worn on this page meaning it was a newer potion. The only problem was that it was unfinished. The page was filled with scratched out lines. In one of the margins she found the words "I NEED A SAMPLE!" scrawled in his spiky hand writing. He had been unable to make proper anti-venom without a sample from the snake. She sighed. She was on her own for this one. She wondered if she could get a good enough sample from what she had drawn out of the wound. Looking over at him she knew she would need to do it again and soon.

She gathered a knife from the kitchen and some antiseptic, towel and some bandages from the bathroom. She also conjured a vile for collection. She placed the towel under the wound and, taking a steadying breath repeated the process from earlier. Once she had her sample and had gotten as much out of him as she could, she packed it with gauze from a first aid kit.

She placed the sample in the fridge downstairs and headed to the computer. She needed to find something that would help her with the anti-venom. Although she knew there would be nothing directly related to the magical world she knew the muggles came especially close at times.

Using a search engine she typed in the words –Mythical healing properties–. Looking at the results she smacked herself in the forehead. _Of course! How could I have over looked that?_ She thought. The second result said –Phoenix–. She should have thought of this before. In her second year Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, had healed Harry from venom that also had no cure. But how to get the tears?

Surely there was some way she could find to summon the bird. There was no way she could afford to buy the tears. She was pretty sure even her parent's house wasn't worth that much.

Harry had been healed twice by the bird. The last time had been after the Tri-wizards tournament and the first time in the chamber of secrets. That first time was the one Hermione racked her brain over.

Harry had told her that the bird had come because he had shown loyalty to Dumbledore. Hadn't the professor shown unfaltering loyalty? He had followed all orders including killing him and while he was dying on the floor he used the last of his energies to give Harry information to help him end the war. Or at least what they thought was his last energies. Now if that didn't show loyalty she didn't know what was. But how could she use that to get Fawkes to come?

She spent the next four hours with no solution presenting itself. Looking over at that professor she was terrified to see his chest now barely moving. There was nothing online, nothing in his journal that could help her. On a last desperate measure she apparated outside of Hogwarts. She crept her way across the grounds to the front doors. Opening them she noticed that the castle was quiet.

_Everyone must be asleep. _She thought to herself. She made her way past the broken gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's rooms. Entering the office she was relieved to find it empty. If Professor McGonagall had been in there she wasn't sure what she would have said. The portraits were also sleeping, letting out gentle snores. She approached the one she came to see behind the large, ornate chair.

"Professor?" she said. Receiving no response she tried again louder. "Professor Dumbledore." This time she succeeded in waking him as well as a few of the other portraits. Dumbledore yawned loudly before addressing her. "Ah Miss Granger, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Please sir, I need to find Fawkes. Can you please tell me how to call him?"

He gave her a puzzled look, "Fawkes, well that is easier said than done. Unfortunately, I am only a portrait. I have no clue where the glorious bird is. In life we had a connection that allowed for me to call him to me when needed, but I'm afraid that connection was lost when I died."

"Isn't there any way? He came to Harry in the chamber I must find a way to call him."

"I'm afraid not any way that I could tell you. I'm sorry I can't be more help, but I was not designed to be able to communicate with Fawkes."

Hermione sank to the floor in tears. "No, this can't be right. You had to know what to do. He is going to die. I can't take anymore death today. Please, please help me." She sobbed. Dumbledore just stared at her murmuring his apologies. The other portraits where mumbling words of condolence in the background.

There was nothing she could do. She had no other ideas. Not knowing what else to do she decided to write a letter the Professor McGonagall telling her what had happened. He would need to be added to the list of people that needed a funeral. It had been such an easier thought when she believed he was already dead. With him still alive, even just barely, it felt so wrong to be thinking of that. She grabbed a piece of parchment and stopped short. There were no quills on the desk. She opened the drawers of the desk without finding a single quill.

"How are there no bloody quills on the headmaster's desk?" She yelled giving vent to the anger that was forming inside of her. She stalked across the room to a file cabinet and yanked open the drawer. Her breath caught in her throat at what she found. Reaching in, she pulled out a long gold feather. She stared at it in wonder. Carrying it around the corner she showed it to Dumbledore "Will this work?" she asked.

His eyes twinkled softly as her answer, "I had forgotten about that. I think it shall indeed Miss Granger. Just tell it what you need."

She pressed the feather to her chest giving it a strange kind of hug in hopes that it would pick up on her need and work. "Fawkes," she called out, "please come to me. I need you to save one more life." She waited quietly for several moment praying that it had worked.

Through the window she heard a few soft notes of music. Rushing forward she opened the shutters and the great bird flew in.

"Oh Fawkes. I knew you would come. Please I need to save Professor Snape's life and you are the only one who can help me." Fawkes smoothed a few feathers in response and then looked her in the eye.

She knew he had given his consent.

She conjured her third bottle of the night and held it out. Fawkes leaned forward and filled it with several tears, more than she thought she would need to heal him.

She stroked the birds head in thanks. He blinked his eyes and then turning flew back out the window.

Hermione quickly stole her way back through the castle and out the front gates. She apparated back into her own kitchen and snatched up the vile of venom from the fridge. She was going to test it first.

Conjuring two eye droppers she put a drop of the venom onto a plate and a drop of the tears followed. She waited to see the venom be over taken by the healing properties but saw nothing. It didn't work. Voldemort must have found some way to mutate the snake so that phoenix tears wouldn't work. He had to have known about Fawkes so that may have been a precaution he had taken.

Dejected, she went back upstairs to be with him. She wasn't going to let him die alone. Entering the room his journal caught her eye for the second time that night.

Inspiration struck her. _What if all that was missing in his potion was a phoenix tear? A mix between the healing properties of the tears and the anti-venom?_

She ran down the stairs, grabbed the jar of tears and once again apparated from the house. She landed unsteadily in Snape's kitchen she knew that all the apparating after fighting in a war was starting to get to her. She practically flew into his basement lab and started grabbing the ingredients listed in the journal. She started heating and filling the cauldron as stated in the final draft he had been working on. After a half hour of brewing she was nearing the end of the instructions, she was going to have to start winging it. She decided it was time to add in a few drops of tears. The potion changed from a mild yellow to an angry, burbling orange. She reduced the flame under the cauldron and stirred clockwise. Not seeing any improvement she switched direction. She really hoped the potion would not become volatile. After four stirs the potion started to mellow out. At eight stirs the potion became angry looking again so she returned to clockwise. Another six stirs in it happened again. She knew she was going to have to find a balance soon or the potion would be ruined.

The speech Snape had made in her first year sprang to mind. -_Many of you will not understand the subtle science that is potion making- _

She hated not having instructions to rely on. She knew that her stirs needed to be more than four counterclockwise yet less than eight, and less than six the other direction. She began alternating her stirs, seven counter, five clockwise. After four rounds of this the potion seemed to reach a consistency and she deemed it done. She couldn't help but notice that it was nearly the same shade of green as Nagini. She stowed it away into several vials and made the trip back to her house.

Pouring the last of the venom onto a plate she dropped a splash of the potion onto it. She was rewarded as the potion overtook the poison, dissolving it into nothing. She had done it, she had created an anti-venom. Now it just hopefully wasn't too late.

In the bedroom she had to place a hand on his chest to see if he was still breathing. She dumped most of the content of one vile into his mouth and the remainder of it onto the wounds on his neck. She hoped that perhaps the potion would cure the bite wounds as well as the damage to the tissue cause by the high concentration of poison that pooled there when she was attempting to siphon it out. Finishing this she had only to wait. She wasn't sure how long it would take. She pulled her mother's chair up close to the bed and sat in it, leaning on her elbows, and focused on seeing some kind of result. However, it wasn't long before exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep with her head on the bed.


	3. Chapter 3

The pain was unbearable but it seemed as though the darkness was getting brighter. His blood felt hot in his veins, throbbing in time to his heartbeat. He wasn't sure how it could be but the pain told him he was not mistaken, somehow he was alive. He tried to think of how this could have happened. He vaguely remembered attempting to heal the wounds on his neck; he wasn't sure how far he had gotten before he had blacked out again. Anything past that was a blur. He stopped thinking as it was too much effort.

The darkness lifted a little further and he notice for the first time he was on something soft. He was no longer in the shrieking shack. Had he been able to move? He could think of no one who would have come to his rescue save Dumbledore but he was dead. He had seen to that himself.

Finally, the darkness was gone. Snape opened his eyes. He was staring up at a white ceiling. The evening light permeated the curtains somewhere in the room and he heard a clock chime the hour. He blinked a few times trying to clear the fog from his eyes. He turned his head slightly to the side trying to ignore the way his head spun in doing so. He noticed that there was someone asleep against the bed. He blinked a few last times clearing the remainder of the fog and focused on this person who must be responsible for his being here.

_No bloody way_ he thought realizing who it was. _There is no way that bushy-haired twit of a girl was responsible for this_. He tried to sit up thinking that there had to be someone else in the room. He hefted himself up onto his elbow, the burning in his blood change to sharp, mind splitting pain. He fell back onto the pillows letting out an audible groan. The girl at his side awoke with a start, her eyes gazing wildly about trying to get stock on her surroundings. Looking at Snape she noticed that he was awake. "Oh my, Professor. What time is it?" She glanced at the clock on her father's nightstand and let out a small gasp. "It can't possibly be that late. I should have given you the potion hours ago. Here drink this." He grabbed two of the bottles next to the bed and poured out rations of each.

He opened his mouth to let out the scathing comment that came to mind about her having the audacity to tell him what to do but found that it was too much effort and he was in too much pain. He conceded that whoever had left her on watch had probably left a pain potion at least. He drank the first potion wondering on the taste. He had never tasted such a thing before and was unfamiliar with what it could be. The second he drank with more ease of mind. This he recognized as a standard pain potion laced with a sleeping draught. He allowed the potions to take effect, immediately feeling the heat in his blood go down along with his eyelids. Hermione simply shook her head. She was mentally kicking herself for falling asleep although she knew that she had needed it. Now that Snape was asleep again, he set about checking on him. The green tint was still showing in the skin around the wound although his arms and face had almost returned to a normal color. She was thankful that it was working even though it was not working as quickly as regular anti-venom. But she figured that was because it usually didn't have to work on a rare, giant snake biologically altered by a psychopath.

She left the room and looked down at her appearance, she was still wearing the clothes from the battle and her muscles ached from the events of the night before and the uncomfortable position she had fallen asleep in. After a long hot shower she felt refreshed and the clean jeans and tee-shirt had never felt so good. Working her way down to the kitchen she made herself a can of soup, the only food not thrown out before closing up the house, and sat down with a book off one of the numerous shelves in the house.

After a couple of hours she heard movement upstairs. She jumped to her feet and pulled out her wand. She couldn't be sure if Snape was up or if a straggling Death Eater had found them. She quietly crept up the stairs coming to a stop by the door. She tried to listen for any signs of danger. There was a loud crash and Hermione didn't hesitate. She slammed the door open and jumped in the room wand raised. Thankfully there was no death eater, just a collapsed Snape on the ground next to the chair he had presumably knocked over. She quickly stowed her wand and made her way to his side.

"Oh Professor are you okay?"

Snape made a grunting noise and tried to hoist himself up.

"You shouldn't be out of bed yet." She said helping to support him and move him back into bed. "Crap, you're bleeding again."

He reached up to his neck and the now blood soaked bandages. Hermione deftly pushed his hand away and set about changing the bandages. He glared up at the young witch, wondering who could possibly have left her in charge of him. He did not know where he was or why he had not seen, or heard for that matter, another person. He had questions and she was going to answer them whether she liked it or not. He allowed her to finish with his dressing and give him another blood replenisher before interrogating her. He knew why he had collapsed and he figured that an interrogator with blood loss was not scary enough to get answers.

Hermione could tell that Snape wanted answers. As much as she was dreading the actual conversation she was glad to see that he was alive and healing fast. Thanks to Fawkes he was awake and alert, if not yet mobile, after just twenty-four hours.

Snape gave her his best scowl and she sat in the chair like a good little student.

"So where am I?" He rasped out. It hurt his throat to talk.

"You're in my house sir." She replied, looking him strait in the eyes. He merely raised a brow at her voicelessly asking her to continue. "You see, I was going to go for help and you told me no. I needed to get you out of the shrieking shack though and this was the only place I could think of."

"But why?"

Thinking he meant why her house rather than any number of other places, she started to answer, only to be cut off.

"No, I mean why did you come back for me?"

She cocked her head slightly, studying him. If she hadn't known who she was talking to she would have thought she saw a hint of puzzled bewilderment under his sardonic expression.

"Because no one deserves to die and rot in that shack." She deadpanned.

There was a brief moment of silence that Hermione found a bit uncomfortable. If Snape thanked her she would wonder what was in the venom. She doubted even such a near death experience would change Severus Snape, evil git of the dungeons that much. She was not wrong.

"How am I still here? I know there was some kind of potion that even I didn't recognize. If you brought me here then who do you have here that brewed that potion? Also, how did you get to my house? That blood replenisher is from my private stock."

At this she started looking about the room. This was the part that she dreaded.

"Well you gave me your address so I went there and got the blood replenishers and pain potions. The other potion was a, uh, anti-venomthatImade." She said the last part fast and then took a sudden interest in her hands.

"You made?" He couldn't even hide the disbelief in his voice. "How is that possible? I have been working on it for three years without any success."

"I kind of stole your potions journal." She closed her eyes and waited for the explosion but none came. Instead he asked calmly for her to bring the pilfered item. She walked downstairs and grabbed the journal from the kitchen table where she had been putting the finishing touches on the instructions.

After placing it in his hands she returned to her seat to await his verdict. She didn't know why she felt like a scared first year, how could he yell at her for saving his life? But then again this was Snape.

He finished reading and looked up at her. "Phoenix tears? What on earth gave you that idea? There is a reason they are not used in potions, they are extremely volatile when mixed with other substances."

"I got the idea from an internet search."

He cut her off here. "The internet?"

"Yes it's a muggle thing."

"I know what it is. Contrary to popular belief some wizards besides Arthur Weasley do keep up on what is going on in the muggle world. What I meant was what gave you that idea?"

"Oh well I was panicking and couldn't think of anything. I have already found the journal and saw that the potion was incomplete and thought I would check what they had to say because they get close sometimes. As for putting it in a potion I knew why it wasn't done but when the tears didn't work on their own I decided to try. I took out the newt and added some mint to try and counteract the effects. And before you ask I will tell you how I knew it wouldn't work. When I found you the venom was doing its job a bit too well. I couldn't move you without doing something. I borrowed another muggle technique. I, in essence, 'sucked' the poison out of you. Only rather than doing it the traditional way I used Accio and slowly pulled small amounts out. It let me get a sample of the venom."

Snape did everything he could to not let the shock show on his face. He could never admit it to her but she truly was the smartest witch of her age, maybe even in the history of Hogwarts since the founders. He looked back down at the book in his hands. The amount of intellect it took to come up with this in such a short amount of time and under such pressure made him dizzy.

He shook his head; no it was because of the loss of blood. He couldn't possibly be that impressed. Ever.

Hermione saw him shake his head and grimace. Unaware of his thoughts she took it as meaning he was not feeling well. "Sir," she said, "I think you should probably get some rest."

He grunted in reply and lay down as she made her way out of the room

_Rest that's all I need_ he thought

A/N: Severus Snape impressed *_Gasp*_ Keep reading and review please.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you everyone for all the positive feedback. You guys all have me so excited that I decided to put up some more chapters today.**

It took several weeks before Snape was up and moving around. In this time Hermione discovered something new about her professor, He was a horrible patient. Hermione had spent little time out of the house in the last weeks as Snape could do little other than sleep on his own. She managed to leave for the large funeral held to in remembrance of Fred, Lupin and Tonks, but she didn't stay long afterwards. Ron had held her hand throughout the service, but he felt so distant caught up in his grief so different from her own.

When Snape was finally able to get out of bed he wandered around Hermione's house feeling caged in. He didn't know why he felt that way; he had spent the majority of his life closed in, down in the dungeons. He needed to go somewhere but he didn't know where. He knew from the prophet that Hermione had left out that the wizarding world thought he was dead. He kind of liked that idea. He could go anywhere and do anything, as long as it wasn't in this part of Europe. The only problem was that he didn't know where to go. He didn't have any unfulfilled dreams to travel or live somewhere exotic. He couldn't decide if he liked the idea of mountains or valleys. Or maybe he would go somewhere with beaches. The thought of himself on a beach was almost enough to make even him laugh. Almost, but not quite.

He heard footsteps moving in the next room over. He knew she had been pacing almost as much as he had. She also hadn't left the house. He scowled; she had better not be sticking around for his benefit. He was sure she was thinking of the freaking boy wonder and his dunderhead sidekick. He made his way into the other room and peered in. She was indeed pacing the room and wringing her hands.

"You don't need to stay here you know" he said startling her, "I don't need a babysitter and I will be leaving soon anyway. Go find your friends."

"It's not them I'm thinking about." She said flopping down on a chair. "I know how they are. They are in the Prophet daily. It's, well, it's my parents."

"Yes," he answered, "I noticed there was a lack of parentage in the house. Although I'm not sure how they would feel with me here."

"I sent them to Australia last year."

"So go get them." He said with a huff. He didn't have time for this.

"It's not that easy. I can't just go get them. They, they don't know who I am." At that she started to cry.  
Snape had seen his fair share of crying girls in his life time, usually at his doing. But he couldn't send this one back to her dorm, he was in her house. Besides he had this annoying sense of honor that said she had saved his life and he could at least listen to her.

With a sigh he leaned against the door frame. "Why do they not know who you are Miss Granger?"  
She sniffed and wiped her face on her sleeve. "I was afraid that they would be targeted. I wanted to get them as far away as possible but they said they wouldn't leave without me. So I bought two plane tickets to Australia and I modified their memories. They now live there with new identities and no memory of their life in England."

For the second time he had to hide his shock. She had managed to properly modify the memories of two people when she was, what, just turned seventeen. This went beyond simply trying to prove herself to her peers or even her teachers. She had modifies memories and brewed a new and complex potion. All under extreme amounts of stress.

However, he did have one important piece of information that she did not. "You can restore their memories, you know."

She looked at him skeptically. "How? The memories are gone. If wizards have a way to restore memories then why is Professor Lockhart still in St. Mungo's?"

"Because his memories were removed."

"But I removed all the memories having to do with me so they can't be retrieved."

Snape sighed and rubbed his temples. How on earth could he have possible just been thinking highly of her intelligence.

"Miss Granger, did you Obliviate their memories of yourself or did you use the modification spell?"

"The modification." She stated.

"If you were to read up on the theory behind the memory modification spell you would find many similarities to the theory behind transfiguration. You have basically transfigured abstract material rather than concrete; and as with transfiguration, any object changed to another object…"

"Can be changed back into the previous object." She finished catching on. "Which means I can have my parents back."

"Yes but understand it is a very difficult process. It may have to be done even slower than it was changed in the first place."

"But it is possible?"

"Yes"

Before he had known what was happening, Hermione broke into a wide grin, jumped out of her chair and ran across the room, throwing her arms around him. She only held on for a second before she ran out of the room yelling that she was leaving for Australia. Snape was glad she had left the room so quickly. He knew that this time shock registered plainly about his face. A few minutes later she brushed past him again into the room. Snape didn't even realize he hadn't moved. She started digging through photo albums on a shelf, obviously looking for a particular one.

"You know," she called over her shoulder, "you could come with. I know you still don't want people here to know you're alive and no one would know you there. I mean that's the reason I picked Australia."

Snape scowled at the young witch. She wanted him to come with her? She couldn't possibly enjoy his company; they had barely spoken during his time there.

"Besides, you could always help me with the technique I'll need to bring them back." She added finding the right album, shrinking it and adding it to her little satchel.

Snape's scowl deepened. That explained it; she wanted him to help her. He was very temped to tell her no and leave right then, however, he still didn't know where to go. Besides if he didn't help then there was a chance she would screw up and reduce her parent's brains to mush.

She was still looking at him expectantly when he nodded his assent. She broke into another of her wide grins and he left the room.

_Hmmm Australia,_ he though,_ I guess beaches it is._

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: just to warn you all, the chapters will start getting longer at this point. **

"Crap." Hermione yelled for the tenth time from across the room.

"What is it that you are doing that is causing you to have such a limited vocabulary Miss Granger?"

Snape asked stepping into the living room where Hermione was glaring at her computer.

She sighed and turned in her chair to look at him. "There are no flights to Australia for another week. It's also going to take a large portion of my muggle savings account to buy the tickets."

Snape sneered at here mention of flying. He did not like the idea of climbing into a large piece of metal that he had no control of and letting it take him half way around the world. But since neither of them had been to the locations that would be necessary to apparate and he couldn't take a Ministry monitored portkey, it was the only option.

He looked over her shoulder at the price of the tickets and realized it would probably take a very large portion of her savings to pay for both tickets. He was also pretty sure that they would need money for lodgings once they got there. "I can pay for my own ticket Miss Granger there is no need for you to assume the charges for that."

She looked at him questioningly, "But sir, how can you do that. It's not like you can just walk into Gringotts."

"You forget that I was a deatheater and a spy. I have provisions for if I was ever in need of disappearing quickly and quietly. In the event of my death all control of my assets go into the hands of my solicitor, a very quiet and discrete man whom I have known for some time. I have spent the morning writing a letter to him that I would appreciate if you could deliver. It has also been sealed with magic so that he will know it is not a forgery. It's also dated for before my death. It names you as the benefactor of my possessions allowing you to remove items such as books and brewing materials from my home."

"But why not just go to him yourself if he is discrete?"

"Because as I have said I have known him for some time and he is what might be called a friend. He also tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve and if he were seen suddenly happy and cleaning out my vault then someone would figure out the rouse around my supposed death. Now, when you deliver the letter, tell him that it showed up on your doorstep with a note saying for you to take it to him. You will have to act surprised about the contents. Meanwhile, I will work on a list of things that I will want collected."

"And we can't just go in and get stuff? I've been in there before and had no problem."

"Yes but since then Detwiler has learned of my death. He will have disconnected the house from the floo and placed charms around it so that no one can get in. I am the only one who knows how to get through them, so if I were to go there or tell you how to, then he would again know I was really alive. These charms are in place for 30 days following the announcement of my death. At the end of the 30 days if I have not reappeared then my last will would be opened and my things disposed of. That is why you must take this new will to him as soon as possible so that I can get my things and I can truly stay invisible. Now is this enough information to stop that frizzy head of yours from asking me anymore questions?"

Hermione nodded her head and took the letter he proffered from his robes.

"But sir," Hermione said stopping him as he turned to walk away, "that still doesn't explain how you will get the money for a ticket."

He sighed and turned back to this infuriatingly nosey witch. "As I said, I was a spy for basically the entirety of your life time. I have money hidden throughout my house that you will retrieve as well as means that most people in the wizarding world do not have except, for example, yourself."

At her confused look he rubbed his temples as if pained, "Truly, it frightens me at times that you are considered the smartest of your age. I have a muggle bank account. I knew Voldemort would eventually gain control of Gringotts so having all my funds there would be counterproductive if I needed to leave. He would never think to investigate muggle banks to find someone. I have been slowly pumping my pay checks into a muggle bank over the last 15 years. My Gringotts account has funds that would make even the Weasley's feel prosperous."

"Oh" was the most intelligent thing she could think of saying causing Snape to again shake his head and leave the room.

Later that day she apparated to a quiet corner of Diagon Alley and made her way to the office of James B. Detwiler, Solicitor. She had put a glamor in place to help her dodge the press. There was enough talk in the Prophet about her lack of appearances with her friends. She had sent them off a letter saying that she needed to take care of some stuff and not to expect to see her for a while. Harry had just responded saying he understood, he would cover for her and to be safe, Ron's had been a bit terse. He wanted to know how they were supposed to be together if she wasn't around and if he was supposed to just wait around for her. She was pretty sure that he wouldn't wait for long. But right now getting her parents back was her first priority and she didn't know how long that would take. She did know that the chances where in favor of Ron finding someone new now that he was a celebrity alongside Harry. She shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking of such things. She found the office she was looking for and walked in.

A man greeted her when she walked in, "Is there something I can help you with miss?"

"Um, yes. I'm looking for a Mr. Detwiler."

"That would be me. Please step into my office." He walked across the room and held open a door, motioning for her to enter.

Once they were both seated he again asked what he could do for her. She removed the glamour, registering the brief shock flit across his face.

"Well sir, I'm sure you know who I am." She started. He nodded his ascent, schooling his features back to a more business like stare. "I have been staying at my parent's residence taking care of some personal matters where I found this on my doorstep this morning. There was a note attached to it simply stating that I bring it to you." She said handing over the letter.

The man started at the letter for a moment then looked back at Hermione. "Do you know who this is from my dear?"

"I must confess that I recognized the handwriting. Though how or why it's sent to me I have no clue."

Before opening the letter he pulled his wand out of his pocket passing it over the paper and muttering what Hermione assumed was a validation spell of authenticity. The tip of his wand glowed a faint green for a moment and the writing on the paper changed to silver. Both Slytherin colors and obviously the colors the man was looking for because he nodded and opened the letter. As his eyes scanned down the page, Hermione watched as disbelief flooded his features.

After he had read it three times he looked back up at her. "Miss Granger, this letter is informing me that Professor Severus Snape is naming you the sole benefactor of his most valuable possessions."

Hermione widened her eyes in what she hoped would come off as shock. "What?"

"Yes, and he stated his reasons for doing so to be that you are the only person he knows of who will truly appreciate to value of his book collection and that his personal potions lab was for you to further your education because he, and I quote," he looked back down at the paper, " 'wants to give one last contribution to Miss Granger's education and hopes it will sway her towards pursuing a career in potions and realize her potential for become in a Master in the field.' Now what Miss am I to make of this?"

This time Hermione did not have to fake her surprise. "I don't know sir. A master?" Did Snape seriously believe her to be capable of becoming a Master? She was sure that this was never meant to be read aloud to her, Snape would never willingly give such a compliment.

Mr. Detwiler put the letter down and started at her hard. "You can't think of any reason why besides this that he would leave anything to you?"

She merely shook her head still trying to decide what to make of the comments in the letter.

"None eh? Listen Miss this may seem out of line but Severus Snape was a close friend of mine. What was your relationship to him? There must be something special about you besides your intellect that would cause my friend to be so generous to one so young."

Hermione's jaw dropped open "I do not appreciate what you are implying Mr. Detwiler. I have _never_ had a close relationship to Professor Snape, or any other of my professors for that matter beyond that of teacher and student. And if he is _such_ a close friend then I think you would know that Professor Snape could hardly tolerate students in his classroom and would more than likely not be able to stand one on such a personal basis as you are hinting at." By the end of her rant Hermione was thoroughly glaring at the man.

Mr. Detwiller stared at Hermione seemingly deciding if what she said was true, and then nodding his head asked when she would like to meet to collect her entitlement.

After setting a date two days out to meet at Spinner's End Hermione and Mr. Detwiler shook hands and she stepped out of the solicitor's office and apparated back to her residence. "Well," Snape asked the moment she stepped through the door, "did you manage to blow everything or did you actually manage to succeed?"

Hermione clenched and unclenched her fist, mentally counting to ten before answering. "Yes, it is all taken care of. I am meeting him at your residence in two days to collect the things you want."

"Good, at least this wasn't too difficult a task." He said as he turned and stalked away.

-_ Why haven't I kicked this insufferable man out of my house and why am I dragging him across the world with me? - _she thought watching him walk away. _–It's for mom and dad. He is going to help me bring them back to me. It's just a little bit longer and then I'll be headed back here with them and I will never have to see him again.-_

With this thought running through her head she smiled and sat down on the couch to watch the discovery channel.

Several days later, Hermione stood outside Snape's residence in Spinner's End awaiting the now tardy Mr. Detwiler. She stood surveying the slightly dilapidated neighborhood of dead flower beds and dirty rundown houses when she heard a _pop_ announcing his arrival.

"So sorry to keep you waiting Miss Granger, I only just left the ministry with the ok to release the professor's possessions to you."

She nodded her understanding remembering the time Dumbledore had bequeathed items to herself, Harry and Ron. The ministry had held the will and items in limbo until the thirty day limit had forced release.

They walked up to the door and the solicitor unlocked the door. He held the door open and Hermione walked in. He watched her expression carefully. He was still unsure as to why she would be given all of Severus Snape's possessions and did not entirely buy that she knew him only as a student. Thankfully, as the last time she had been in the house she had been too worried about finding the potions lab and saving Snape to really look around the surprise on her face when she saw the shelves of books that lined the walls. "Wow" she breathed walking around the room, tracing her finger over the book spines. She had to fight the urge to not pull several out and begin reading right there, Reminding herself that these were really not hers and that she was to just pack up all the books, potion things and the few items that she had been asked to get. Mr. Detwiler noticed that she seemed shocked to find that Severus had such a collection of books decided that she could not have ever really gotten to know the potions professor. He cleared his throat, calling her attention.

"I have also already taken the liberty of bringing in the things that he had kept at Hogwarts. It is all in the boxes there. If you would like I can make provisions for the removal of anything that you do not want so that you can take full possession of the premises."

"Oh, I don't plan on living here. I think I'll just take the books and potions things and anything that I feel would be beneficial for the reasons that he left me all this. It would be strange living in his house or using any of his things. I'll just get some things then you can take care of everything else in whatever way he had originally wanted you to." Snape had told her that besides the books, potions things and few items that he specifically wanted that the rest could all go.

"Yes of course, Miss. Now I'm sure that you do not need me to assist you here and I have another appointment to get to. Just send me an owl when you are finished and I will take care of the rest."

"Yes, thank you. I will do that."

With that the man gave her a curt bow and left. Hermione heard the pop of him disapparating in the front lawn.

It took her several hours to collect all the items, box them and transfer them to her house. She returned to her house after dark, sweating and covered in dust. Snape sat in the middle of the living room floor going through the various boxes and sorting the books into piles to be kept and those that would not be needed. He ignored her as she made her way upstairs to shower go to bed. She stopped short when she reached her room. There pinned to the door was a ticket to Australia dated for in two days. She smiled and pulled down the ticket, humming happily at the prospect of having her parents back in a short time.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry I didn't get anything up yesterday. To make up for it here is a nice long chapter and I might even get another one edited tonight. **

The next couple of days went by in a flurry of activity. Hermione bustled around the house getting it ready to be closed up for a short period of time and packing what would be needed for the colder months in Australia. Snape having finished sorting his books, was charming suitcases to hold everything that he was bringing with him. Once the packing was finished the only remaining task Hermione had was to exchange the last of Snape's wizarding money out for muggle bills. This was not something that she was looking forward to doing. The only time she had entered Diagon Alley had been to go on one of the side streets to visit the attorney. Now she was going to have to go to Gringotts and her glamor wouldn't be enough to conceal her on the highly populated streets.

She dressed in her plainest robes and left her hair down to help hide her face, hoping that she could get there unnoticed. It was with a sigh of relief when she managed to walk up to the exchange counter without mishap. The goblin that helped her seemed even grumpier than normal. Hermione figured that he remembering how she had recently used polyjuice potion to break in to one of the vaults. To be honest, she was surprised that they were willing to help her at all.

She was just about to walk out the doors when someone bumped into her. She started to say excuse me and walk on when the man grabbed her arm. "Hermione? Where the hell have you been?" Hermione looked up to find herself looking straight into Harry's green eyes.

"Harry! Hi, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"What am I doing here? Hermione where have you been? Ron and I barely hear from you after the battle, the ministry has been pestering us as to why you're not around, and all of the Weasley's have been worried sick about you. You showed up for the funeral and then disappeared so quickly at the end. What is going on?"

"Listen I know I haven't been around but I have had things to take care of. My whole life isn't in the Wizarding world like yours and Ron's is. I have been at home working on a plan."

Harry hung his head and reached out and rubbed Hermione's shoulder. "I'm sorry it's just weird not having you here all the time and we are all worried about you. So I guess you are trying to bring your parents back home. When will they get here?"

"Well it's not that easy. I don't actually know where they are. I took away all their memories of me and sent them to Australia. I don't know where they went after they got on that plane. It's not like I can just call them and have them come home. They don't know I exist."

"Well if you need help Hermione, you know Ron and I will be there to help. We can talk to Mr. Weasley and see if there is a detective of someone that we can use to find your parents."

"Thank you Harry but this is something I can't leave to someone else. I am going to Australia myself to find them. I leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Well how did you get a portkey? Let's go see Ron and we'll pack our things and come with."

"No Harry, I don't think that is a good idea. Ron needs to stay here for his family. Mrs. Weasley needs all of her children with her right now. It is not the time for Ron to disappear yet again on another adventure. And you, the wizarding world needs right now. You of all people can't just up and run off to a different country. Besides, I'm not taking a portkey, I'm taking a plane."

"Hermione, you gave up everything to help the Wizarding world, they can live while I help you. Australia is a big place, you can't do this alone. And Ron misses you, I think he's feeling a little abandoned right now that you're not with him. You know he won't wait forever for you to come back and you could be gone a long time."

Hermione fought back tears. She had waited for Ron to grow up for so long and notice her that now that he had it was hard to think that it was her walking away that would probably end it. "I know Harry, I know. I love Ron but I have to do this now. They have been there a year, if I wait any longer I may never find them. I am afraid that he won't wait but if he can't then he can't. His family needs him and honestly, he needs them. As you said I could be gone a long time and I have no idea where I am going or really even where to start looking. We both already know that he doesn't do well on that kind of quest even without a horcrux around his neck. I believe that the pain he and his family are going through now could be worse for him then that locket. Listen I'll try to write and keep you updated but I have to go."

Harry again started to protest but she cut him off, "I'm not completely alone. I have someone who is going to help who has knowledge in the type of magic I used on my parents."

"Who?"

"Well… someone I've been in contact with who is an ex professor." She hated lying to Harry and hoped that he didn't notice her hesitation. She knew that Snape did not want anyone to know he was around and she had a feeling that it might go double for Harry.

"Okay, well try to keep me updated and good luck. If you need any help I'm a portkey away. I'll drop everything if you need me." They hugged goodbye and Harry watched as Hermione walk around the corner before he heard the pop of her disapparating back home. He knew that Ron would be mad about what was happening but he believed that Hermione was right. Ron needed to be where he was and she needed to find her own family. If she stayed or he went right now the regret would just eat away at their relationship and their friendship. At least this way there was a chance that the latter could stay intact. He shook his head and made his own way home.

Hermione apparated onto her front porch feeling out of breath. She quickly ran inside the house handed the money to Snape and ran upstairs. He sat on the couch with his hand still outstretched holding the money staring after her. "What on earth was that all about?" he muttered. Hermione had been very calm and concise throughout the last week. She had been quickly and quietly (if you could call the almost constant muttering under her breath of the lists of things she would need quiet) going about the business of preparing for the trip. Snape had found it a relief to know that she didn't need him to remind her of things to pack and that she didn't constantly bother him about what they would do once they got there.

Against his better judgment Snape made his way upstairs. When he got to the top he saw that her bedroom door was shut. He walked as nonchalantly passed as he could and heard the sound of sobs behind the door. For the first time in he didn't know how long, he was uncomfortable. He was used to hearing crying, between students and watching countless people be tortured, he had seen more than his fair share of tears. It's not even who was crying that was bothering him; he had seen her run out of his own class room more than once in tears and it had actually almost made him smile. This crying was different. This wasn't a student whom he had just humiliated. There was no obvious use of torcher, no family members being threatened. This was just tears, tears for which he had no idea what the cause was. He stood outside the door for a few moments before deciding there was nothing he should or would do about it. If she wanted to lock herself in her room and cry then what was he supposed to do about it? He no longer held any responsibly to keep her alive and he seriously doubted was making her cry had anything to do with a life or death matter. Back down stairs he decided to turn on the TV and hope that she wouldn't spend the whole time in Australia locking herself in rooms and crying.

The next morning found Snape and Hermione up early to make it to the airport. She appeared red eyed and quiet. He pretended to ignore her as he had every other morning and gathered his things to go. He kept giving her covert glances trying to ascertain if she was going to start crying and expect him to ask what was wrong. He could tell that she was trying to not let him know she was upset.

The airport was crammed with muggles pushing and yelling in every direction. The noise level was enough to make both of them forget about what was bothering Hermione. They got the luggage checked and were finally shown to their seats before Hermione finally looked over at her ex professor. He was white as a sheet.

"Um, sir, are you okay?"

"I didn't entirely realize just how many people would be here." He muttered.

She looked from him to gaze around the crowded coach compartment and came to a new realization,

"You're afraid of crowds?" she gasped in disbelief.

"I wouldn't call it afraid Miss Granger, it's just that in most of my experience, large crowds' equal physical or emotional pain. At least at the school I could see over everyone and make an escape when I needed to. The idea of being crammed in a tin can like so many sardines and flying across the world, in a contraption I am not in control of, is not looking like such an easy task."

She continued to stare at him as the plane started to taxi to the runway. As they began to pick up speed she noticed that his grip on the arm rest had tightened and his jaw was clenched. Afraid that she was about to see him barf she searched the pockets on the back of the seat in front of her for the bags provided for just such an instance. When she offered it to him he merely glared at her and swallowed hard. She kept a hold of the bag until they plane leveled out and the seatbelt light went out. Snape promptly got up and made his way to the bathroom.

The rest of the flight went uneventful and Snape relaxed more with each connecting flight as he conceded that the plane would actually continue to rise into the air. Hermione, however, became more on edge the farther they got from Britain. She couldn't help but be nervous about the complicated magic she and Snape were going to attempt on her parents. She just hoped that they would be able to find them and get it over with; she didn't think she would be able to take it if she had to feel like this for much longer.

Once they landed and got through customs with their things they hailed a cab and asked to be taken to a cheaper motel. This is where Hermione saw the first of many flaws in their plan. They walked up to the counter and Snape brusquely asked for two single rooms. The man behind the counter quickly consulted his computer and sighed. "I'm sorry sir but I only have one room left. It is large though with two double beds." He glanced back at Hermione who couldn't help but turn red at the implication of his words. The man gave him an apologetic smile and continued on. "I'm sure you and your daughter will be perfectly comfortable." Snape looked out the front doors to see the taxi driving away. He was tired and did not feel like waiting for another taxi or looking for a different hotel. He growled and reluctantly took the key. Hermione wasn't sure how she kept her jaw from dropping at the man's words. She was unsuccessful however, when Snape took the key. Unsure what else there was for her to do, she followed Snape back out the front door and in the direction of their room.

Once they were inside Snape went directly to the bed furthest from the door, stacked his bags on the inside edge of the bed and lay down. Hermione walked in a little hesitantly and seeing where he went placed her things on the end of the closer bed. Although she had been basically living with the man for the last month and a half, in reality they had barely seen each other. He had stayed in her parents room, with its own bathroom, while she stayed in her room n used the hall bathroom. They had kept to different schedules between the living room, kitchen and library and had more than once went several days without seeing each other. The idea of now sharing such close quarter with him made Hermione uncomfortable. She noticed that he didn't seem entirely comfortable with the idea either as his bags seemed to be making a make shift wall between them.

She felt a little grubby after being in the airplane so decided to change and grab a book. She was unsure how long they were going to be staying here and didn't want to unpack. She had used the same spell of her duffle bag as she had when roaming around with Harry and the bag was full of clothing and books. Rather than dig around she cast Accio on the things she wanted and headed into the bathroom to change.

Ten minutes later she was settled on the floor next to her bed reading when there was a soft _tap tap tap_ on the window. Hermione sat up and looked over and the window and then back at Snape who had opened his eyes and was staring at the window. A moment later the tapping happened again. Hermione grabbed her wand and moved towards the window. She heard Snape behind her getting his own wand out of the great coat he had worn earlier.

Going over, she opened the blinds to find a large cockatiel was the culprit behind the tapping. She quickly opened the window and let the bird in. It flew in and landed on the small table next to her holding out its leg that had a letter tied to it. Before taking the letter she looked over at Snape who simply nodded for her to take the letter. After she had taken the letter the bird let out a squawk and flew back out the window. Looking at the direction of the letter she saw it was addressed: **To Occupant of room 118**.

Her curiosity piqued, she quickly tore open the letter and began to read,

**To the occupant of room 118,**

**Due to a dangerous experience happening in the magical community in another country, all visiting witches and wizards have had a trace activated on them. This trace is for the protection of our community as well as for those choosing to visit our great nation. To have this trace lifted you only need come to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Please bring your wand and wear clothing loose about the arms. **

**The casting of further magic while still under the effects of the trace may be construed as acts of terrorism and will be handled by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. **

**Thank you for your compliance in these matters and we look forward to seeing you soon.**

**Sincerely,**

**Aiden Martin**

**Director of Foreign Affairs**

Hermione stared at the letter for several minutes before looking up at Snape. If this meant what she was thinking things could go seriously wrong for them. He raised an eyebrow at her questioning why she was staring at him. She walked over holding out the letter. "I think you had better read this."

As he read it his brow furrowed. When he reached the end he growled, crumpled up the paper and threw it across the room. He sat glaring at the floor for several minutes contemplating what this meant. Even nearly half way around the world, in a different hemisphere even, this decision of his youth was going to continue to haunt him. Hermione finally broke the silence. "They are looking for the dark mark aren't they?" He turned his glare upon her, "As usual Miss Granger, your ability to state the obvious is uncanny." She glared back at him. After what she had been through in the past year his glares and withering comments where no longer quite as scary as they had been in her school days. "Well we will just have to do something to hide it. There has got to be something that will hide it. I will go first thing tomorrow and get my trace removed, when I get back I can hide your mark then you can go in and get yours removed. "

He shook his head, "While our rather incompetent Ministry may have at one time fallen for such a plan, this is a different country, who understands what a real threat a person who carries the mark is. They will more than likely have safeguards against such tricks. Think of what you had to go through when you broke into Gringotts. I am afraid your plan is full of holes." Hermione thought back to the waterfall that had striped her of the polyjuice potion and realized that he was right. If they were worried enough of deatheaters coming to their country to activate a trace on all visiting wizards then they would definitely have something in place to discover the mark."

Hermione knew he was right. There was nothing for it, Snape could not cast magic, at least not in this country. She stared down at his left arm, a look of defeat written across her face. Snape saw where her gaze was sitting and reflexively tugged at his sleeve as if afraid part of it would show out the bottom of his shirt. They sat in silence for a moment, one trying to come to grips with the reality of not finding her parents the other simply reflecting. The professor finally cleared his throat, pulling Hermione out of herself.

"Once, at the end of the first war, Dumbledore said that the magic resonating from my mark was a sure sign that Voldemort would return. It was the reason it was still so permanent. I and many others scoffed at the idea. We believed that the magic left in it was there either because we, the wearers, were magical or because the heavy dark magic used to place the mark in the first place. However, he also had a belief that once he was truly gone that there could be a possibility of having it removed. He never said how this could be done, but if there is no magic left in it I may be able to find a salve that will gradually remove it."

Hermione stared at him, "You mean you might be able to get rid of it for good?" Snape nodded in response.

"How? What do we need to do? If we got rid of it then you could cast magic. You could be finally free."

At first her words had been almost painful. Yes he could cast magic meaning that he could be of use to her in getting her parents back. Once again he was a useful tool. Even knowing that he had volunteered to help didn't take away the anger at feeling a means to an end yet again. But her final words stopped him before the anger could rise. _He could be free_. No one other than himself had ever used that term before. Freedom was something he had longed for, for years. He could not count the times that he had begged for his freedom form Dumbledore. The old wizard had always laughed at him, "You are not a prisoner my boy," he would say, "you chose this, you promised this." He had hated it; always having his promise thrown at him. His love for Lily had become his curse. But now this slip of a girl had noticed the one thing he wanted. He could be free.

He could not speak. He merely nodded again.

Hermione continued, "So I guess I should go get my trace lifted so I can help you. I think there is a map on the back." She picked the letter up off the ground and, once she had flattened it, turned it over. Sure enough there was a map showing how to get to the Australian Ministry as well as instructions for getting in without magic and the hours they were open. She glanced over at the clock on the bedside. "So it looks like they are already closed for the night. I suppose we should get some food and some rest and I will head out first thing in the morning."

Snape nodded and stood to follow her out the door. She continued to ramble on about where they could eat to elated that perhaps she could get her parents back after all the pay much attention to the silent thoughtfulness of the man behind her. Returning to the hotel she grabbed her bag and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. While in there she refocused on the problem of fully sharing a hotel room with her ex professor. While it had been concerning when the first got the room, no longer being able to cast magic put a whole new spin on it. Originally she had simply planned on transfiguring a shirt into a curtain to surround her bed. With that no longer being an option she was unsure what to do. She dug around in her bag for ten minutes before finally being able to locate a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt. Once dressed she made her way back out. Snape had already placed his books aside and turned out the light on his side of the room. She turned out her light and grabbing the comforter and the extra pillow attempted to make a barrier on the side of the bed closest to Snape. While she knew that this did nothing to really provide any type of privacy, she at least felt the bulk would allow her to hide a little while sleeping.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Here is another please R&R the second R makes me post faster *wink wink***

The next morning Hermione was up and dressed not long after Snape. Neither of them had slept particularly well due to the time change. She drug herself out to the front desk for some complimentary coffee and to call a taxi. She sipped gratefully on the steaming brew while she waited. Once seated in the cab she gave the address listed on the back of the parchment then sat back to enjoy the scenery. It took about 25 minutes to get to the other side of Sidney. She was surprised to see that the entrance to the ministry was right in the heart of the business district. She was use to the British Ministry where you had to go to the unfashionable part of town and go to a broken phone booth to get in. Getting out she quickly paid the cabby and walked up to a tall building marked as the city building. Feeling slightly self-conscious as she walked in she made her way up to the front counter. Before saying anything she checked the instructions again. Sure enough there in print it said _At the front desk ask for level 14._ Looking at the directory on the wall behind the desk she noted that the building only had 12 floors.

The guy looked at her expectantly. "May I help you?"

"Erm, yes I am looking for floor 14."

He looked her over hard before motioning for her to follow him. They made their way along a long hall back to a service elevator. Once inside he turned to her.

"Are you restricted in your use?" he asked.

"Yes"

Nodding he reached up his sleeve and pulled out a wand. He touched it to the panel just below the buttons. She watched as several more buttons appeared below the rest doubling the floor count.

The man pressed the new button marked 14 and the elevator began to go up.

"Wait," Hermione said, "You mean the ministry is above ground and part of this building?"

Again the man simply nodded.

"But how? The building from the outside is not that high."

"Well ever hear of an expandable charm?"

"Of course, I have used them myself."

"Well that is what is going on here. The building is magically expanded but it is not noticeable from the outside. If you look at the blue prints of the building though, it is made out of much stronger material than a normal building. I love it when the muggle engineers show up to work on the place. They get so confused and start complaining about the waste of using such materials on such a short building."

Before she could ask any more questions the bell dinged and the doors opened showing a bustling front office with a line of people already waiting outside.

He pointed in the direction of the front desk. "Just walk up there and show her the letter and she will get you taken care of."

"Ok thanks." She said giving him a quick smile.

"No problem, have a good day."

Making her way to the front desk she smiled at the lady seated behind. "Hi, I um, got this letter yesterday at my hotel room and…"

"Ah you are here to register. Did you bring your wand?" She asked in a high pitched voice.

Hermione nodded and tried not to flinch at the sound.

The girl surveyed Hermione quickly.

"Oh good you wore proper attire. You have no idea how many people think we are joking when we say loose fitting clothes. They always think it is a joke and wear long sleeved shirts. Then they complain about us making them change. We have these absolutely awful colored short sleeve shirts we make them wear. Originally they were a nice shade of blue but then we in the office got fed up with people so we transfigured them as a form of punishment. If you can't follow the rules then you deserve to look bad for at least a short time."

The girl rambled on and Hermione felt her head swim. She hoped this process wouldn't take long. If she had to keep listening to this girl's voice she was going to get a headache.

Handing her a clipboard the girl continued. "Here I need you to fill this out and take a number from over there in the corner. When you are called just hand the clipboard to the person and they will get you all taken care of. Thanks and welcome to Australia."

Hermione thanked the girl and after getting a number, moved off to an unoccupied corner. The paperwork was simple enough just her personal information, wand properties, and reason for visiting. For the last one Hermione hesitated. Putting down 'to restore memories from parents taken without their permission by their daughter so she could run off with a couple boys in an attempt to save the European wizarding community' might not be the best answer. After a moment of deliberating she entered 'long term vacation/temporary relocation'. Deciding that was the best she could do, she leaned against the wall to wait.

She watched as several others walked in, some in more familiar cloaks, others in unfamiliar clothing from other countries. Most, she noticed, barely contained their grimaces as soon as they heard the girl at the desk talk. She enjoyed her people watching time for around 30 minutes before she heard her number being called. She wandered over to a middle aged woman wearing a dark blue suit and a gray cloak with a name tag bearing the name Wanda.

"Hello dear, do not be nervous. There is really nothing to this. We will just do a quick inspection of your wand have you cast a few spells and you will be on your way."

The woman was very comforting as well as very quick. Never once alluding to the arm inspection that Hermione knew would be part of the process. Rounding a corner there was a small gate set up much like the security gates used at the airport only with a curtain hanging from it.

"Now, Miss Granger is it?" She said looking over the information on the clipboard. "If you will just hand your wand the man here he will weigh it and give it a quick inspection." She handed the man her wand and turned back to the lady who continued. "If you would just step through the curtain please and then you will get your wand back."

Hermione moved through the curtain. As she moved through she felt a cold sensation starting at where the curtain touched her and moving through her whole body. It was reminiscent of the waterfall at Gringotts that had removed magical charms and enchantments. Once on the other side the Wanda smiled at her "Perfect, you may take your wand. Only a couple more things and then you will be on your way, set to perform magic."

Hermione turned around and looked at the curtained gate again. She noticed that it really did look like the gates at the airport including the lights.

"Is that a magic detector?"

Wanda shrugged off her question. "It is nothing just making sure there are no glamours or any such things in place. You know just ensuring that we know who we are registering."

"So if someone walks through with something like that…"

"Then they are detained until all glamours are removed and we finish with the needed process."

Hermione could not help but notice that she said _needed process_ not _registration process_. She had a huge feeling the process included incarceration, deportment and then Azkaban.

In the next room Wanda had Hermione perform a few simple spells and apparate from one side of the room to the other. No one was really all that interested in her ability to do so, but they kept up the appearance that the ability to practice safe magic was their main concern, not making sure deatheaters did not waltz into their society.

Once she was finished Wanda had her sign a form. As soon as her name was signed she felt a shiver run down her spine. "There you are my dear all set. Now if you just walk to the room on the left at the end of the next hall you will find an apparition point and you can be on your way. Just follow the yellow arrows on the floor. Hermione started to make her way to the room and stopped. She didn't want to just appear in the hotel room where her ex professor was sitting alone. The last thing she wanted to do was startle him. Turning around, she walked back to Wanda, "Um, excuse me, I am currently staying in a hotel and do not want to frighten anyone by just appearing in the room. You know housekeeping and such. Can you point me in the direction to leave the way I came? A taxi might be a safer route for the moment."

"Of course dear, follow me."

Once down stairs she hailed a cab and made her way back to the hotel.

Using her key to get in she found Snape sitting at the small desk trying to find something in the case of shrunk books.

"Was your trace lifted?" He asked.

"Yes"

"Good explain the process and enlarge these books." He said shoving a small pile of miniscule books in here direction.

Hermione rattled what happened while at the Australian Ministry while she worked. He asked a few questions about the gated curtain and she shared what little info she could get from Wanda. After she had restored several potions and herbology books she asked him, "So do you have any idea where to start? Did Dumbledore ever give you any clues?"

"No." came his clipped response.

She thought about this for a second and could only see one conclusion. They were going to need to find a more stable place to stay and she was going to need a job.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hmmm third chapter tonight don't have anything remarkable to say so please just review.**

Hermione spent the afternoon pouring over the pamphlets she had gotten on her way out. Several of them were just visitor info on interesting places outside of Sydney that had any kind of local magical history. A couple contained info on how to get to the local magical community and some of the various shops that could be found there.

That night she was able to rest a bit more comfortably. With her ability to legally cast magic she wasted no time that night in creating a curtain around her bed. If Snape had any problem with her need to shut herself away from him he made no mention of it.

The following morning she got up and readied herself to go out again. Snape continued to burry himself in several of the books she had enlarged for him. She attempted to get his attention to ask if he needed her to help with anything before she left for the day but he simply waved her away amid whispers of various ingredients that could be helpful in the salve.

She went outside and walked around the hotel. To anyone else it looked like she was just taking in the scenery but in reality she was looking for a good place that was out of the way where she could apparate and disapparate without causing a stir. About a block away she found an alley that didn't appear to really be used. Other than a couple of large dumpsters it was deserted.

She walked back out to the curb and hailed a taxi. Being unfamiliar with the area she was worried about trying to apparate to a location with only a picture to use as a guide. She would have to use the regular entrance the first time.

She made her way to a more quaint side of town very different from the tall building she had seen the day before. She wandered along the street consulting her pamphlet until she finally found a brick wall with a large painting of a cockatiel on it. As she moved closer to inspect it she saw that it was actually hiding a large door, consulting the pamphlet she saw that it was only visible to witches and wizards. Although not quite as impressive as the moving brick wall in the dirty back alley at home, she was comforted by the similarity to the entrance to Diagon Alley. Lifting the latch she opened the door.

On the other side was a bustling shopping district. She headed in looking at the various shops. She found all the regular stores, Quidditch supplies, robes, wands, books, etc. She made sure to take special note of the location of the book shop and apothecary. While there she enquired whether either was in need of some help. Unfortunately, neither was. She spent some time at the pet shop looking at the varying animals and missing her cat that had stayed with her parents. It was interesting to see some of the animal native to Australia although she did her best to avoid the cage that claimed to hold a fire breathing wallaby.

She continued to go shop to shop asking about the employment opportunities at each, even going as far as to ask at the ice cream shop. With never having actually finished with her seventh year and not passing N.E.W.T.S. she was unsure about asking into any higher profile jobs. Back in England she was sure that thanks to her known academic abilities and her exploits with Harry that she could have had nearly any job she wanted, seventh year or no. But here she was just another witch and she planned to keep it that way. The last thing she needed was to become known as an international hero. It wouldn't help her cause in getting her parents back nor would it be good for Snape.

After a couple hours of walking the area she came to the conclusion that all of the bigger shops where either going to be to low paying, to menial, or just were not hiring. She decided to make her way down some of the side streets looking at the various office buildings. She took note of a solicitor's office, a specialty charms shop, the post office and a magical items repair shop. After enquiring she discovered that both the charms shop and the repair shop were hiring.

She got the information she would need to apply and said she would be back the following day. She made a quick stop into the post office to check on the price of an international owl. Once inside she stood riveted in place. Where she was use to the Owlery at the Diagon Alley Post with its rows of owl nest boxes she was amazed at the beauty and color surrounding the hundreds of cockatiels twittering around the building. She spent some time talking to one of the attendants and petting the friendly birds that would come to rest on her shoulder while they talked. It seemed that the bird was native to this part of Australia and could be found nearly everywhere in the city. They tended to hang around and cause trouble, as bad as her homelands pigeons, if not given task making them great post birds. They blended in with their native family members and it kept them from wreaking havoc on the community.

She returned back to the hotel late, thankfully managing to apparate into her alley without startling anyone. She walked in to find Snape in much the same position as she had left him, only on a different book. She reached around him into the drawer of the desk and pulled out several of the take out menus the hotel supplied. After having walked all day she was not interested in walking out again to get food.

She pulled Snape from his books asking what it was he wanted to eat. Settling on pizza she placed the order and flicked on the TV to wait. Snape glared over at her so she cast a quick _muffliato _charmaround herself and the TV. He raised an eyebrow at her use of his spell. She chose to ignore him and flicked through the local channels.

Over the pizza Hermione broached the subject of looking for a place to stay other than the hotel.

"So it seems that we will more than likely need to find another place to stay for the duration of our stay. We can't very well afford to stay here until we are ready to fix my parents."

"Agreed, I also will need a place suitable for brewing. I would prefer to not have to sleep in the same place I brew as the smell can become over powering at times. I am sure you would agree with that. I picked up the local classifieds while you were out and found several places that might work outside of Sydney." He motioned to a newspaper sitting under his pile of books. Hermione went over and picked up the paper turning to the for rent sections. She saw several ads circled. They were all relatively cheap, two bedroom flats with either a large storage shed out back or an attached garage.

One thing she noticed that presented a problem was that they all asked for first and last month's rent up front.

"Uh Sir… how are we going to afford first and last month rent on a place. I did start looking for a job today in the magical community but it will be a while before I will have the money to put up for this"

"I still have the funds to get us started and if you write to my solicitor back in England and ask him to try and rush the sale of my house then we can use that money towards rent. If you manage to get a job in the meantime we will figure out a way to split on bills after your first pay check."

She nodded. As much as she hated the idea of free riding on him she saw no alternative for now. They agreed to go and look at the places the following afternoon.

Once dinner was finished and cleaned up Hermione pulled out a quill, ink and parchment to begin putting together a resume to turn in in the morning. She was not expecting it to be so difficult. No matter which way she wrote it she still balked at not being able to put down a seventh year at Hogwarts. Also proving difficult was the large hole left from trekking around England for the last year looking for horcruxes. She was not sure what to really do about it either.

She spent 30 minutes huffing into her paper, crumpling up pieces of parchment before letting out a groan and falling face first into her parchment.

Snape shook his head and looked over at her. He had never seen her stumped before having only ever seen her pouring over a book and writing furiously.

Knowing he was not going to get anything done while she was emitting such obnoxious sounds he decided to offer some help.

"What seems to be the problem Miss Granger that has you imitating Mr. Weasley's attempts at studying?"

She raised her head to glare over at him. He stared back unfazed.

"In all of the workforce prep they put you through in fifth year they never go over how to write a resume for a job in a country that has probably never heard of Hogwarts and may not even use the same grading system. Not to mention that I suddenly disappeared from school never completing my final year and I am not sure running around the country trying to stay alive will be good to put on there, or even how to put it if I did."

Snape stared at her in thought for a moment. Although he would never admit it he could see why she was so stuck. Hogwarts really didn't do enough to prepare students to do anything other than walk into the Ministry with their N.E.W.T.'s in hand and ask for a job. It was all very placed and didn't leave much room for going into different work than your classes directed after fifth year.

"What are the jobs you are considering applying for?"

"Well there was a charms and enchantment shop. It looked like it specialized in providing entertainment for different functions as well as doing difficult charms on objects. The other which admittedly I am much more interested in was a magic item repair shop."

He walked over and took the parchment out from under her. She had placed all her information at the top and had a sketched out area for education and academic achievement.

Reaching across he grabbed her quill and ink and set to work. Hermione watched in horror as he began to grade her resume. Already feeling defeated this was not making her feel any better.

He began writing stuff in, scratching others out, and marking where parts should be moved to make it more presentable.

When he handed it back several minutes later she groaned to see that most of what she had managed to write was basically scrapped. What she was not expecting to see however was the various pointers written across it that were actually helpful. In all her years of being his student she could not think of a single time he had ever written something on a paper that was positive or for that matter could even be twisted into a backhanded compliment.

She pulled out a new piece of parchment and started rewriting yet again implementing the changes Snape had suggested. She wrote in her education with a small description of O.W.L's and the grades she received in each subject. Next, she followed this with an overview of the classes she took in her sixth year outlining some of the more difficult charms and even some of the transfiguration work she performed.

Stopping here she looked up to find Snape watching her work. Not sure what else he could be waiting for she extended the paper back towards him. Without a word he took it and looked it over.

"Much better," He said, "Now what were you thinking of putting for the last year?"

At this she just shrugged. He could not help the small sneer that washed briefly across his face at the simple mindedness of this gesture. He had always hated shrugging as a solo response. "Miss Granger, even if it is to be a worthless answer of 'I don't know' you still have the ability to speak and not simply move as an answer." He barked at her.

Again she glared over at him, "Fine, I don't know what to put for that." She said with an over emphasized shrug of her shoulders knowing it would irritate him.

He gave her an icy stare in return, "Do you want my help or not?" his voice came out in a growl causing her to shrink back a little, her confidence shaken.

"Yes sir."

At this answer he sighed "Then tell me some of the magic you performed while on the run with Potter."

She thought about it for several minutes and started to recount the different spells she had used over the past year. He took note of any that seemed relevant and then she added them in. When they finally finished she felt she had a good resume and Snape said it was passable which she took for a good sign.

Her visit to Cockatiel Lane as she found the shopping district to be called was much quicker than it had been the previous day. She dropped her resume off with both places please with the reception she received at the repair shop. While the charms shop had merely added her resume to what seemed to be a growing pile of resumes the other had taken a moment to look it over as soon as it was handed in.

The girl on duty smiled up at Hermione after reading it. "I see that you received excellent marks on all of your O.W.L's and were studying both Runes and Arithmancy with are essential for this line of work. However, I seen that you never finished out your last year. Do you mind me asking why that was?"

Hermione had been dreading this question and how she would answer it. She decided honesty was the best course of action.

"I was unable to return to school due to the magical civil war going on. I belong to a non-magical family and the regime that took power was working to eradicate us. It was not a safe place for me to be, and after it was all over and things were set right I decided I just needed to get out of there as soon as possible. I have, however, read most of the seventh year text and am able to perform the magic necessary to complete the final test. I just currently lack the means to do so."

The girl seemed to think this over for a moment. "Well… that certainly makes sense as to why you didn't finish. Would you mind looking over some things for me?"

At Hermione's consent she pulled out several objects. "What can you tell me about these?"

Hermione was happy to see she could identify each of the objects, including a quick quotes pen, a remembrall and a sneak-o-scope.

The lady also seemed pleased. "Well I see you are well versed on your magical objects. I will tell you we do provide some training on the job but much of it is spent in research on the objects enable to fix them. Starting out you very well wouldn't be doing any of the actual repairs. Does that bother you?"

Hermione almost laughed. They were actually asking her is it would be alright if they paid her to do research. She replied that it wouldn't be a problem. The two chatted a few more minutes about Hermione's abilities and what they were looking for in an employee before a customer walked into the store.

"The owner of the shop will be in this afternoon. I will definitely give him your resume and you can expect to hear something either way in the next day or two."

Hermione thanked her for her time and made her way out of the shop to a corner where she could apparate back to the alley near the hotel.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Well I died in the role playing game I was playing tonight. Bad for me good for you since I have time to edit and post.**

They looked over the flats that Snape had circled the previous day. Both were in the monthly price range they were looking for and both were furnished which was a plus as neither was looking forward to sleeping on the floor. Hermione figured they would need to get linens and such first and they could use disposable flatware at the beginning. They opted for the one with the attached garage as it provided the best space for brewing.

Snape handed over the money for the deposit and they were told they could move in at the beginning of the following week.

Two days later Hermione received a cockatiel with a letter asking her to come in on Monday for an interview with the owner of the repair shop for the position of junior researcher. She quickly penned a note of confirmation and sent the bird back on its way.

She was almost giddy with the quick response. Snape offered her a slight congratulatory on the interview but then effectively burst her bubble by reminding her that an interview was not the job and if she acted like this now he would need to find a hiding place if she got it because she was already giving him a headache.

She quieted down allowing him to go back to researching and with a heavy sigh cast _muffliato _and turned on the TV again.

Over the weekend Hermione managed to find a discount muggle store and bought bed sheets, towels and some cooking equipment for the new flat. When she returned to the hotel with her purchases she tossed one set of the sheets in Snape's' direction.

"Here I got these for you."

Picking them up, he gave a look of distaste. "White, really? Didn't they have black?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Seriously? Black sheets? Does everything you own have to be black? Do not you own any other color?"

"Not if I can help it."

"Well that was all that they had."

He glared down at the stark while sheets, "You know I am not allowed to do magic but you could do something about this."

Hermione mumbled under her breath, "You have got to be kidding me." and with a flick of her wrist changed the color of the sheets to black.

Snape gave a nod in her direction that she chose to take as a thank you and decided to change hers to crimson.

He sneered at her. "Hypocrite, you give me grief over wanting a different color yet, ever the predictable Gryffindor, you change yours to red?"

Not pleased with his comment she looked back at his sheets will in his hands and raised an eyebrow, giving serious thought to changing his to red since he could do nothing about it.

His eyes widened slightly as he realized where her thoughts were going and quickly shoved his into his bag preventing her from casting on them.

She rolled her eyes and turned to put hers away as well.

Monday morning saw Hermione going in for her interview. Apparently the other girl who worked there was the owner's daughter and had talked her up quite well. The interview was short, but rewarding. Hermione was set to start in two days' time. The compensation she was offered was small to start but would increase at the end of the month if she was able to prove herself useful and provide accurate research.

The days soon fell into a routine of Hermione going to work and both of them spending the days doing research. Hermione was fascinated with the magical objects she was looking up and Snape was frustrated over the problems of trying to create am unheard of potion from scratch.

When she got home for the day Snape would usually say something demeaning to her about the noise she made or some other trivial matter and then after an hour would ask her about her day. She had learned quickly not to ask about his as it threw him back into a foul mood due to his lack of progress.

It was turning into a very different dynamic than when they were at her house back in England. There, once he was feeling better, they had almost never seen or spoken to each other. Here, they spent much of the evening together, making dinner, eating, and chatting. She would share the information she learned throughout her day and they would discuss the different properties of the device and how they would be fixed. On the weekends she would help him research various potions ingredients that could be useful for the potion. Somewhere along the way neither had noticed that they had dropped the formality of miss and sir and were now on a last name basis.

After the first month in their new place Snape was thinking he might have enough research to finally start coming up with the recipe. He gave her a list of ingredients to pick up from the apothecary and they started the first trials. By the end of the weekend they were both in foul moods. He had needed her to control the heat through the process and with two people working on the same potion it was everything but a success. Hermione was not even sure they got enough information to have gotten anything useful out of the process. To make matters worse he could not work on brewing on the weekdays since he needed Hermione to be there to control the flame since he could not use magic.

Adding to her mood was the letter she had received the day previous. While over the last month she and Harry had exchanged a few letters, Ron had only added small messages to the bottom, usually asking when she was coming home. The day before though, she had received a letter solely from Ron. Upon reading it she found he was asking her what to do about their relationship. He had met someone and wanted to know what to do. If she would come back he was willing to see if they could work but He didn't know how much longer he could wait. He wanted to move on with his life after the war and he felt he could maybe do that with this girl. She had stared at the letter for a long time stuck feeling somewhere between angry at him for not waiting for her and sad that they would never have their chance. She knew it wasn't fair to ask him to wait for her any longer she had already been gone for over a month and still had no clue when she would be able to go looking for her parents. Finally she pulled out some parchment and sent him a reply saying that she understood, she didn't know when she would be back and wishing him luck.

She took the letter to the post office on her way to work and sent it off. Unsure what else to do she chose to fully bury herself in her work and in the potion. She decided to look into ways that he could work on the potion when she was gone.

On Wednesday she showed up with a paper shopping bag that she dumped on his lap.

"What is this?" He asked.

She perched herself on the arm of the chair across from him and simply said, "Open it."

With a huff he reached in and pulled out a box. "A Bunsen burner."

"Ya I found a little shop that sells different supplies for homeschoolers and thought this might be useful. It is designed for high school level chemistry and should go up to the temperatures that you need for the potion. At least compared to what I have seen of more advanced potions. There are also a few canisters for the gas. You'll just have to make sure you keep a window open."

Snape wasted no time taking it out of the box and inspecting it. "Hmmm… This just might actually work." With that he jumped up and made his way with the Bunsen burner and potion notes to the garage. Just before leaving the room he turned back to Hermione.

"Do not expect me in for dinner tonight and thank you."

She continued to stared into the spot he had been a moment before, shocked and disbelieving what she had just hear. Snape had actually thanked her outright. She laughed at herself when the thought crossed her mind that the world would end that night.

She had a quiet evening alone as Snape did not reappear that evening. Before going to bed she decided to sneak in and see what he was up to. His long hair was blocking his face as he worked diligently over a cauldron perched on his new toy. Based on the rapid and sure movements of his brewing she figured he was working on something simple to get use to the temperature control before moving on the working on the experimental potion. She quietly closed the door without disturbing him and went to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Another month went by with little progress being made on the potion. Snape noticed that as October made its appearance Hermione started to get quieter. She was spending more time up in her room or buried in a book without really seeming to read the pages. It was becoming reminiscent of the mood that she had sunk into back in England before she had told him of her parents.

It didn't take much for him to put together that she was getting depressed over the amount of time it was taking for him to finish the potion. They had not even begun to really research what would be needed to reverse the spell. She was stuck in a rut and it was giving her too much time to ruminate over what they were unable to do.

On Friday when she returned from work she plopped down on the couch without even going into the garage to see what Snape was working on as was usually her habit. Snape came in an hour later and found her sitting in a darkening room, staring into space.

He stood in the doorway for several minutes. He knew she was probably getting frustrated in the lack of success in getting rid of the dark mark; leaving an ever growing void between her and her parents. He could not understand it but he didn't like seeing her like this. He had seen her cry many times throughout her life, several of them being at his doing. He had also seen her obnoxiously happy and bubbly. But this, this was something new entirely to her demeanor. In England, yes, she had been sad but this was getting worse. This was turning into something he recognized. Hermione Granger was punishing herself for the situation she was in.

Coming to this realization Snape snapped up and growled at her, "Granger get up."

She jumped in her seat, nearly falling off of the couch. "Huh what?" she stammered.

He grabbed both their coats from the closet and tossed hers to her. "I said get up. I want to show you something."

Hermione drug herself up and put on her coat following him out the door. It was a cool evening as she followed him down the road. They walked in silence for around twenty minutes, Snape not sure what to say to her and Hermione just working to keep up with his brisk pace.

Finally, the small of salt water filled the air and they could hear waves somewhere close by. He led her over a small hill where they found several large rocks on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Snape climbed up on one of the largest rocks. It was flat on top and provided the perfect vantage point of the waves crashing below. Hermione followed him up and stood breathless, taking in the scene before her. It was beautiful, peaceful; they stood in a more companionable silence taking it all in.

Snape looked over at the girl next to him. The wind was blowing in off the ocean, whipping her hair back behind her. He could see that her thoughts were still troubled though, not yet soothed by their surroundings.

Staring out into the waves he cleared his throat gaining her attention. "I found this place about a week ago. I was frustrated with the lack of progress on the salve and needed a place to go to just get away and clear my head."

She nodded and also turned back to watch the waves crash below. She was surprised when she heard him continue. "It's easy to get lost in all that you do not have and forget to live. I spent so much time getting lost in what I felt I should have had I lost who I was. I fought for a country that I had to flee from because there is no trace left in it of who I am only who I let myself become. Do not lose sight of who you are or what you are capable of. Don't let yourself fall into a dark place like I did. Do not let it happen to you Hermione."

With that he turned to go, leaving her with his words. At the end of his speech Hermione turned to stare at him watching his retreating form. It was the first time he had ever used her first name. She sat on the rock and contemplated what he had said to her. It was the most she had ever heard him say about himself. Once he was out of sight she turned back to the waves allowing the sound and the wind to wash over her until she felt more at peace.

Snape had walked home alone to allow her time to think. He could not believe he had said so much to her about himself. As much as he dreaded letting anyone know anything about himself he knew that she needed to hear it. He had a distinct feeling that she was someone he could tell this to without her turning it around or using it against him. He went back into the garage to resume his brewing. He knew she would come back when she was ready.

After about an hour of brewing he heard the loud crack of apparation as she returned into the living room. She didn't come out to see him but he left her to herself. When he finally came in around eleven he found some leftovers sitting out on a plate for him on the counter. After eating he made his way upstairs to ready for bed. In the upstairs hall he could see the light on under her door signifying she was also still awake. As he was making his way from the bathroom to his room he saw her standing in her doorway. He stopped and they stared at each other for a moment.

Finally Hermione broke the silence, "Severus, thank you." Was all she said before she backed back into her bedroom and closed the door. The hallway went dark when her door shut leaving only the small crack of light under the door.

Snape stood there for several minutes shocked by everything she had just done. At first he was focused on the fact that she had thanked him. What exactly it was for he was not sure. Simply showing her the cliff seemed too small of a thing to deserve thanks and he could not see what he had shared with her as really being thankworthy, he was just being honest. Next, it finally registered that she had used his first name. Part of him felt he should be upset with the familiarity she displayed by the action. He quickly squashed this though when his logical side pointed out that he was the one who started it earlier, using her first name while on the cliff face. He knew that were basically roommates but he didn't know if he was comfortable with this transition. Now he was worried about how he should address her. Would she expect him to continue using first names or would they go back to last? Realizing he was still standing in the hall, he moved into his room attempting to work this out. He knew that socially there was nothing wrong with roommates being on a first name basis but his longer relationship with her had been with him as a superior. Then again even with his peers they had rarely referred to each other by first names. Of everyone he went to school with only Lucius called him Severus and even that had not started until after they had both left Hogwarts.

Lying down on the bed he rubbed at his temples, this was giving him a headache. He decided he would wait and see how she handled it. If she continued to use first names he would either accept it or tell her he did not want that kind of familiarity. If she went back to last names even better. With this decision made he turned out the light and went to sleep.

Hermione did not fall asleep easily that night either. Although she felt much better after coming back from the cliff she now had more to think about.

She had called him Severus, _Severus, _what was she thinking. He was her professor, well ex-professor but still, her senior in every way. _It is okay. You can fix this,_ she told herself _just go back to last names tomorrow._ After she had said her thank you she had quickly retreated to her room. She had been unable to read his expression in the dark hallway. Not that she could normally read him as it was but she didn't like not knowing if he was angry with her or not. She lay there for several more hours before exhaustion finally took over and she fell asleep.

**A/N: Hmmm short chapter but it's amazing what can happen in very few words. Could this be a new turn in the blooming friendship? Also HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Hermione slept in since she didn't have to work. When she got up, she decided to offer to help with brewing the potion. Going into the garage she stood back watching him not wanting to interrupt lest he was in the middle of something that required concentration. Never looking up from his task he waved for her to enter. When she was standing next to him he told her to go to the other side of the work bench to start grinding up some elderflowers into a fine powder.

They settled into a comfortable work pattern of her preparing ingredients, him inspecting them, then either sending her back to fix something or taking it and sending her to prepare something else.

When she was finished with the fifth ingredient he was heavily focused on the potion. She knew they had reached the point where previously the potion tended to fail. She brought the ingredient over, lemon juice fresh squeezed with absolutely no pulp, to watch the potion with him. He was carefully stirring it counter clockwise, taking exactly 3 seconds to make each rotation. When the potion started to change from a light green to a brown meaning failure yet again he growled and angrily gave it a quick stir. The color change stopped and the potion returned to a light green. He stopped and stared at the potion. He had been working at getting it past this stage for almost two weeks and had finally done it. He felt a sense of satisfaction at getting it right even if it had been an accident. Hermione jumped excitedly next to him.

"Snape quick where is your journal so I can write that down?"

Snape balked for a moment as he was reaching for the bowl of lemon juice, his pleasurable bubble burst at her first use of his last name since the night before. Hermione didn't notice as she was had found the journal and was busily scribbling notes into the page set aside for this potion. Snape tried to shake off the feeling, had not he just been thinking the night before that he was not comfortable with her calling him by his first name? He picked up the lemon juice searching it for any signs of pulp. Finding none he sighed, slightly irritated at not having anything to vent his inner frustrations on. From this point Hermione spent much of her time documenting the things he did to the potion, oblivious to the war going on inside her companion.

Now that he had gotten past the trickiest point of the potions base he was able to start moving on to experimenting with the next set of ingredients that would in theory remove the mark from his arm. Most mornings, Hermione would come down stairs to find no Snape but a list of ingredient for her to pick up from the apothecary on her lunch break. After her second week straight of daily visits the owner of the shop finally commented.

"Is there anything particular you are working on Miss? You seem to be coming in an awful lot for quite the variety of ingredients."

"Oh nothing particular," she lied, "I just never got to finish my final year of school and have decided to start working on some of the advanced potions that I missed. You never know when they will come in handy."

"Hmmm not many people show an interest in potions when they are not in school or actively pursuing a career in it. Are you interested in becoming a potioneer?"

"Well I am currently working over at the magic items repair shop but I don't know, maybe something in potions could be interesting. I never really thought about it."

"Well if you ever decide you want to you could always apply for an internship here. I would of course need to see several of your finished products before you could be considered since you didn't finish school, but if you like potions it is always something to keep in mind. I am not a master but I have enough experience to get by in a small shop like this. You could always start as an assistant ingredient picker as well if you are well versed in herbology."

She thanked him for his ideas and then stood there unsure what else to say. He just laughed at her, "Here I am girl, talking your ear off and you just want your ingredients. I will be right back with these." With that he looked over her list once more and ambled back into the back room.

Hermione wandered around the shop while she waited for him to return with her purchases. She had not really thought about what it was she wanted to do with her life when all this was over. In her fifth year her head had been full of aspirations and ideas for her future career, after sixth year though all that had changed. Life became a fight to keep herself and her friends alive. It had been one adventure after another; first the horcruxes and the war, now finding her parents and restoring their memories. While she liked her current job she didn't really see herself doing it long term. It was interesting and it paid the bills for now but she could see it becoming monotonous if you didn't hold a strong regard for the objects as the owner and his daughter seemed to. Thinking it over, becoming a potioneer or even a fully certified potions mistress was something that she could see happening. If anything her time with Snape had taught her that potions were never boring.

As she looked around she saw a few frames hanging in a corner of the room. She made her way over and saw they were the owner's certifications. The first one to catch her eye was his certification of mastery in Herbology. This would explain the level of superiority of his ingredients. Even Snape had remarked one day that he would like to know where they were harvested from as they were of extraordinary quality. A slightly smaller certificate hung below marking him as a B level potioneer. This explained the small stock of rather simple potions he kept on his shelves. While she thought it was nice that the owner had offered her a chance to try and apprentice under him, she knew that if she were going to pursue potions she would want to study under Snape if he would let her. It was something to consider talking to him about at some point at any rate. What was the worst thing he could do, tell her no?

When the owner finally came out with a bag for her she paid and made her way back to work, knowing that at some point she would again have to start thinking about her future.

As the potion progressed Snape and Hermione ran into several more problems with the potion. First, it continually came out soupy, too watery to use as a rub on salve and ineffective when used as a soak for his arm. Finally correcting this, it came out too thick, almost impossible to spread across the mark. But any of these would have been nothing to fix if the formula at least showed some indication of having an effect on the snake and skull.

Spring was in full swing down under before Snape managed to find a formula that had an effect. The potion seemed to be correct in its consistency, and the smell was about what he expected. The only problem he could really see with it was the color. Rather than the orange he had expected it had come out much more of a pinkish color. After it had cooled he tested a bit to the tip of his finger. Feeling nothing he decided it was safe to test on the skin of his forearm. Retrieving some gauze he took a large scoop of the salve and spread it evenly over the mark. For a moment he felt nothing, and then the burning started. It was an intense pain, feeling like he was getting burned down to the bone. The only thing he could compare it to was the burning that had accompanied Nagini's bite, with the difference that this was wholly unexpected. He knew he needed to get it off but the pain was debilitating he could do nothing. He went to scrape it off with his hand but stopped himself worried that it would only cause his hand to suffer as well. Reaching for the gauze packaging he curse out loud, yelling every obscenity he could think of.

Hermione came home early that late October day to hear a series of yells coming from the garage. Having never heard Snape make such a sound she ran to the garage. When she threw open the door she found Snape fumbling at the work bench trying to get gauze out of the container. His left sleeve was rolled back and she could see a pinkish substance smeared across his arm. She ran over to him and grabbed the package of gauze, pulling out a large stack she grabbed his wrist and quickly removed the paste. Underneath, his skin was red and blistering. She ran into the house pulling out her wand, and while concentrating on a small bottle upstairs in her room, said "Accio Dittany". A small, brown bottle came whizzing down the stairs and into her hand in seconds. She took it back to Snape. He was gazing at the raw flesh on his arm, breathing heavily from the pain. Grabbing his wrist again she pulled his arm towards her and poured the remaining contents over the wound. She watched as the blisters began to pop and heal. She grabbed more gauze and pressed it to his arm while the dittany finished its work. After a couple of minutes Hermione pulled back the gauze to examine his arm. Snape had never shown the mark to Hermione and he kept his gaze on her face waiting to see her recoil or even glare at the tattoo. What she did do took him completely by surprise. Hermione laughed.

Snape's eyes widened as he watched her laugh at what to so many had been a symbol of fear and death. "What on earth is so funny Granger?" He asked, his voice hard.

She looked up at his face a mixture of anger and confusion and only laughed harder.

"It is your mark… its red."

He glared down at her. "Of course it is red. My whole bloody arm was red, but I hardly see how my pain is a cause for mirth." He moved to pull his wrist from her grasp but she held on.

"No Snape I am not trying to be rude. It is not your arm that is red it is the snake. It's dyed bright red."

He pulled his arm back again and this time she let it go as she erupted into another fit of giggles. He looked down at the mark and saw it. The once dark green snake was indeed bright, bloody Gryffindor red. The rest of his arm held no other trace of the salves effect, the only thing different was the color.

"Bloody hell." He groaned.

Hermione struggled to try and get herself under control with difficulty. Snape's continued glares at both her and his arm didn't help to make the laughter stop any faster.

"Are you finished yet?" he asked

"I am sorry I really am but seriously, what is better, mister head of Slytherin house, then to have the green of your dark mark turn Gryffindor red. Wouldn't you find it even a little funny if the roles were reversed and I was trying to remove something with red on it and it changed to emerald green?"

His lack of response didn't convince her that it wouldn't at least bring a smirk to his face.

"Look at it this way, it may not be the reaction you were looking for but at least it was a reaction. Something is finally starting to work."

"Just vanish this one would you. The last thing we need is some muggle garbage man with tattoos to get this on him."

Hermione complied and got rid of the offending potion.

She sat on a stool nearby and watched as he documented the results and started on a new potion. After a bit she spoke, "For future potions will you please wait until I am home to test them? Who knows what would have happened if that had been left on longer."

Snape nodded to her request. He knew that if it had been on longer it probably would have burned off all the skin and tissue down to the bone, if it had stopped there. While it was effective in getting rid of the tattoo, not so much in keeping a fully functioning arm.

**A/N: Awe poor Snape. He better get that off soon or he will be stuck with Gryffindor colors on his arm forever Mwaaahahahahaaaa!**


	12. Chapter 12

The next few potions he made showed the formula to be getting closer. He was able to feel a slight tingling sensation occurring in the area of the tattoo for one and lost all feeling in his arm for about an hour after another. As November started and the weather heated up leaving the rain and wind behind, Snape had his first big break through. After applying the newest batch of the salve to his arm feeling the now familiar pins and needles start, he worried that it was again going to be another bust. However, after 30 minutes he scraped off the dried paste to find the colors on his arm were faded. Without hesitating he scooped out more and applied it to his arm.

Hermione was grinning from ear to ear. "How long do you think it will have to stay on to fade it completely?" she asked.

"Based on the amount of fading from thirty minutes I am thinking about 2 hours should do it." He tried to keep his voice even but Hermione could detect traces of excitement in it.

Two hours later he removed the paste again. When the bulk of it was flaked off his eyes widened to see his arm bare, showing nothing but pale skin. "Get the journal, write this all down."

Unable to get all of the dried salve off of his arm he went inside wash it off in the kitchen sink. Hermione pulled out the journal and in large letters at the top penned the words 'Success' across the top of the page. Just as she finished writing it she heard Snape let out a string of curses inside. Thinking back to the last time she had heard him cuss like that she threw the journal aside and ran in. Snape was standing at the sink, the water still running, holding his dripping left arm to his chest.

"What happened? What's wrong?" She asked.

He let out a long sigh "The water…when it hit my arm it washed away the effects. It is back."

She stepped forward and took hold of his arm extending it out. Sure enough there was the mark back on his arm and looking hostile and, if anything, redder than ever.

Once she had seen he pulled his hand back and marched back into the garage. He grabbed the journal and furiously scratched out where Hermione had written success and wrote 'Failure' next to it. He started pouring back over the notes looking things up in the various other books stacked around the garage and writing new notes in an attempt to find what had went wrong this time.

"It was so close." Hermione said after his writing had slowed. "Maybe you should just talk it out."

He looked up from his books to stare at her. "How on earth is that supposed to help?"

"Well, when I was really stuck on a problem and thought I would never find the answer I would talk it out with Harry and Ron."

He raised an eyebrow, "And those two brilliant minds were able to find the answer to your problem? I think not."

"No your right they didn't. But sometimes just working everything out loud was helpful and other times they would say some random simple piece of information Even if it was just pointing out something I had said previously that triggered the realization of what I needed to do. So if you want you can talk it through with me. I can in effect be your Harry and Ron."

Snape cringed at the thought, "When it is put that way it is even more unappealing. However, there is some validity to the argument so I will try. But so help me Granger if you say anything even remotely as idiotic as what would come from that dunderheaded duo I will lock you out of the garage permanently."

Hermione laughed making Snape scowl even deeper and agreed to the terms.

He started talking and Hermione did her best to make helpful comments. At first she found herself hesitant. She was so use to being the brains of the group it threw her off balance to be the one on the other side. It was not that she was really having a problem keeping up with him. Since he had started working on the potion Hermione had done her fair share of research on the ingredients she was purchasing. She just could not find anything that he had not tried. After going around in circles for an hour Hermione let out a sigh. "What is it we are missing? Ever thing is already maximized for fading the tattoo. How do we get it to be permanent though? Ugh! If only muggle techniques were faster?"

Snape's head snapped up at her comment. "Muggle Techniques, what muggle techniques?"

"For tattoo removal. I had an aunt who decided to get rid of a tattoo she had gotten in college. They use this laser devise that basically breaks up the tattoo and lifts it off. The only problem is it is extremely expensive and it took her about 2 years to get rid of hers and it was not as large as yours is."

"That is it. We need to lift it off." With that he turned back to his journal and started writing calculations including the new ingredients he would need.

Hermione stared at him blankly for a moment before shrugging. How he was going to replicate laser tattoo removal with a potion was beyond her.

Snape spent the next two days barely coming out of the garage. Hermione would come home, fix dinner and put a plate of food on the workbench for him. Then she would take over the brewing for a moment following his clipped, intense instructions while barking back at him to eat, that she could read his handwriting. Around 10'o clock at night on the second day the potion was finished. They both gazed at the finished product. It was an almost glowing white mixture. Snape turned to Hermione, "Over in the corner there is a shopping bag. Will you bring the rubbing alcohol and cotton balls over from it?"

She gave him a questioning look but did as he asked.

"What is the rubbing alcohol for?" she asked.

He started rolling back his sleeve. "It is the catalyst. It should cause the potion to foam once applied."

Reaching for the items he poured a liberal amount of alcohol on one of the cotton balls and rubbed it over the dark mark. Hermione watched as he then scooped out some of the potion and applied it to his arm also. Within seconds of it being on his arm the smooth potion became frothy, bubbling up on his arm. It took on the consistency of shaving cream. As they sat there and stared at it Hermione noticed that veins of color were starting to appear throughout the white. She moved closer trying to see what it was.

"It is working." She heard Snape say in almost a whisper next to her.

"What is happening?"

"Watch, it is lifting off the ink."

Slowly but surely the color continued to rise in the foam. Soon Hermione could make out the distinct shape of the skull and still red snake. After about an hour the image on the foam was as dark as it ever had been on his arm.

Snape motioned that they should go into the house. Once inside he went to the kitchen sink and rinsed off his arm.

Hermione leaned over the counter to keep watching. The foam disappeared down the drain taking the color with it, leaving clear skin behind. Hermione looked up and him and smiled. "Snape, I think you did it."

He looked back at her an odd mixture of shock and pleasure written across his face. "I think you are right Granger."

**A/N: Couple things to address here my dear readers. First, massive apologies on the delay in posting. Family has been keeping my busy and then the stomach flu kicked my butt. Second, to the reviewer who asked about the tattoo being covered with another one, I had thought of this but the curtain that they go through would have shown that there was something under the new tattoo. As you see I did bring up laser removal in this chapter but after doing extensive research on it, it is highly expensive and it takes forever! ;p But ta-da the tattoo seems to be gone. Onward and upward**


	13. Chapter 13

Several days later Hermione walked downstairs to find Snape sitting at the dining room table once again staring at his still bare arm.

"I don't think it's coming back. You should try today."

He rolled his sleeve back down and stood up. "I suppose it is now or never. I just… that curtain could be a problem."

When he turned to look at her she could see the worry on his face. After a little over four months sharing quarters with him she was starting to decipher the minute changes that showed his current mood.

"Would you like me to accompany you?"

"I do not need to be babysat Granger. Go to work and I will see you tonight."

"Okay well good luck and don't be too worried I'm sure you will be fine."

Once he heard her pop of apparation he went upstairs to retrieve his wand. He had been keeping it in a box in the closet so as to resist temptation to use it. Pulling it out he rolled it through his fingers checking to make sure it was still undamaged. Finding it no worse than when he had placed it in the box he thought about what spell to cast. Unsure if the government was also watching what kind of spells were being cast by those with the trace on them, he decided to play it safe with a simple levitation spell. Afterwards he opened the window and sat back to wait.

It didn't take long for the cockatiel to fly in and drop a letter by his bed. Taking it he saw the same wording that had been on the one Hermione had received their first night in Australia. He changed into a short sleeved shirt and a light jacket and called a taxi. Now that they lived outside of town it took a little longer to get to the city building. The surprise and confusion that Hermione had shown upon arrival was not as prevalent for him as she had told him what to expect. After talking to the man at the front desk he was taken to the fourteenth floor and left in the care of the shrill woman asking him to take a number. When his number was called it was called by a large man who looked anything but friendly. Snape wondered if they saved the kindly, older ladies for the women to come through. He couldn't help but think of Bellatrix and how much of a mistake it would be to have someone like her go through with anyone less then who he was now faced with. He was taken down the hall and given the whole spiel as to what he needed to do. He fought back a sneer and sarcastic comments at the total lack of honesty about what this was all for. When he got to the curtained gate he swallowed back the apprehension he felt at having to walk through.

He eyed the contraption for a moment then, noticing the man staring at him waiting, he walked through. He felt a cold sensation wash over him as it sought out enchantments to strip away. He couldn't be sure but he swore he felt the coolness settle momentarily on his left arm where the mark use to be. He stepped out and looked at the man who nodded and motioned for him to take his wand. He had never had to fight an urge to sigh before as hard as he had to then. Instead he gave the man his most bored expression and followed him into the last room to finish jumping through their fake hoops.

Once finished he made his way to the apparation point and went home. He reveled in the thought of being able to use magic again. He had not had to go so long without it since his days as a student at Hogwarts. Deciding to take advantage of his skills he went out to the garage to clean and organize all his potions supplies as well as pack up the no longer needed Bunsen burner. Looking at the time he decided he would cook dinner. Hermione had been doing all the cooking for the last several weeks as he immersed himself in his work and he felt she deserved the break. Besides now that he could cast the task would be much easier and quicker.

When Hermione returned home it was to find the place straightened up and smelling of a warm meal. She followed her nose into the kitchen to find Snape brandishing his wand at a dirty pan. She nearly squealed at the sight.

"You passed!" she yelled out causing him to break his concentration and send the pan clattering into the sink.

"Obviously." He stated turning towards her.

"Thank god I was so worried. I don't think I really accomplished a thing all day at work. Why didn't you send me word or come by? I told you how to find the place."

"I didn't think it necessary Granger."

"Didn't think it necessary? Seriously?! Getting through that is big news. I know if it was me I would be bursting to tell my friends."

At this he stared openly at her. Realizing what she had just said she felt herself turn red under his gaze but she refused to take it back. As strange as it was he really was starting to feel like a friend; a sarcastic, truthful to the point of being mean friend, but still a friend.

He was simply amazed at her saying they were friends. While he hardly thought of her as his student anymore thanks to the fact that she was not nearly as annoying as she used to be, he had never thought the word friend. Roommates, sure, somewhat helpful person, yes, but friend?

He watched as her cheeks started to turn red in embarrassment. He thought she was going to take it back; instead she looked him in the eye and bit at her lower lip. It was almost as if she was challenging him to correct her. To say they were never friends. In all honesty it had been so long since he had had a real friend he was unsure what exactly it entailed anymore. She had much more experience in this regard than he did. Maybe they did classify as friends at this point.

"Right I guess I didn't think about it. I didn't believe you would be so excited. I mean I know this means we can start looking for your parents now which is good for you."

She shook her head, her expression changing from the mild defiance of a moment ago to disbelief.

"Seriously, you think that is the only reason I would care. Snape, no Severus friends don't use last names, I care that you passed because it means you truly are free of the mark. If that detector didn't find it then it is gone. Your potion was a success and you can actually be free. It is no longer there to symbolize anything about you. It can no longer dictate who you will be. There is no Voldemort to summon you and the physical reminder of that life is gone. You are in a new country; you can start a new life. I want to know because it is something important to you and that is what friends are for. Not because of what it means you could do for me."

He was surprised to hear her say this, he looked at her closely, automatically looking for some form of deception, but what he found was nothing but honesty. She must have realized that he didn't believe her.

"Do you want to look?" she asked.

"What?"

"Do you want to look? You can if it will help you to trust me. Look at my memories and my thoughts and see that I don't want to use you."

Her expression never changed. Here she was, offering her friendship, offering an invasion into thoughts, to prove herself to him. For once in his life he found he didn't need it.

"No, I… I trust you Hermione."

With those simple words she lit up. "It's about bloody time. Now how about we eat this wonderful smelling dinner?"

He gave her a somewhat lopsided grin "Go set the table and I will bring it out."

Within a few minutes the two newly declared friends were seated around the table, enjoying a meal, both pondering the thought of being friends with the other. While Hermione had always got along fine with most of her professors she had never really entertained thoughts of being their friends, and never with the particular one across from her.

Snape's thought were on what in the world he was going to do about this. He had never seen himself as friends of anyone on staff let alone with an ex student. He was unsure how to be friend to a young girl again. The last time they had been the same age and it had ended badly. While he didn't see things going in the same direction with Hermione he didn't know what she would expect from a friend.

Both figured they would just have to go slowly and be honest as to what was acceptable and what was not. But for now, just sitting quietly sharing a meal was all they needed.

**A/N: There they are on first name basis again and I promise I won't go back on it again. R&R please *big smiles***


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Sitting here bored with nothing to do waiting for work to start so I thought I would give you another chapter really quick. Warning plot twist ahead! Enjoy**

After a few days, Snape suggested that they start looking for her parents.

"Now that I have my magic back we should start looking. I am hoping that you have some idea as to where to look?"

Hermione looked up from the book she was reading, "I suppose we could look at dentist offices first as they are both dentist. We just need to find a Dr. Wilkins and that should be one of them."

"Okay so Sydney dentist. The yellow pages it is." He said.

She laughed, "Really the yellow pages are your best plan?"

He gave her an only half sincere glare, "Do you have a better way of searching for muggle dentist. In my experience they are usually found in the yellow pages."

"I wasn't really planning on approaching them at work. I mean I do want to see them but I don't think that would be the way to go."

"Of course but if we know where they are working then we can follow them home and find where they live."

"So we are going to stake out my parents?"

"Essentially, yes. But I will not hide in a van."

Hermione stared at Snape for a moment, "Did you just crack a joke?"

He just raised an eyebrow at her.

She started to laugh, "Oh my god you did, you just told a joke. I didn't know you had it in you."

His look turned much more somber at her mocking him, "Yes, well, I can see that it is a mistake I should not repeat again if it is only going to lead to derision."

"No, no I did not mean it like that. It was just unexpected. I have never heard you joke lightly about anything before and it threw me off. If anything you need to do it more often. It really was funny."

He just stared at her for another moment before continuing. "Getting back on topic, I believe there is a phone directory in the cabinet in the kitchen.

Hermione got up and moved into the kitchen. She hadn't known they had a phone book. The means for finder her parents had been so close. Part of her wanted to yell at Snape for not telling her so she could have started her search long ago. A larger part of her though, was grateful for not knowing when there was nothing she could have done about it. Now that they were really at this point she was afraid of finding them. What if they couldn't actually reverse the process? What if her parents hated her for what she had done? What of the life they had started to build while here? Would they want to leave it to go home or stay in Australia?

Taking a deep breath she chided herself _You were a brave enough Gryffindor to do this in the first place be a brave enough Gryffindor to accept the consequences._ With that she pulled opened a cabinet door that she never got into. Sure enough there was the business directory sitting innocently on the shelf. Taking it down, she flipped through the pages and quickly located the dentist section. It took under five minute to find a Dr. Wendell Wilkins. While the print was small signifying him as a small practice dentist it seemed to Hermione that the letters were jumping up at her off the page. She sat there staring at it she knew not how long. Her mom was not on the page. She couldn't fathom why she wasn't there. Her mother had never talked of stopping work.

The light was fading when Snape walked in. "Did you find anything?"

She nodded and pointed to her father's name on the page. He looked over her shoulder, peeking at the address next to the name. It was a Sydney address which wasn't surprising. What was convenient is that it was on the side of town closest to where they were staying. If he was correct in assuming that they would live near where they worked then they could live relatively close by.

"We can look for them this weekend. They are not going anywhere. I suggest you get use to the thought of actually seeing them beforehand."

She knew based on her reaction to just seeing her father's name that he was right. She still didn't feel up to speaking so she only nodded again, placed the book on the counter and turned to make her way upstairs for the night.

Snape had started to worry about Hermione when she disappeared into the kitchen and didn't come out. He had thought she would bring the book out to the living room to look. Finally, he decided to go and find her. She was sitting at the counter with the directory spread out in front of her. The light wasn't on and it was getting dark. When he asked if she had found anything she had merely pointed. It was rare that she had nothing to say. He sent her off to bed and took her place at the counter. She was nowhere near ready to do this yet. She needed time to acquaint herself with the possible outcomes in front of her and to work up the courage to face them. He noticed that her Gryffindor bravery tended to show itself when under pressure rather than at any ridiculous moment like so many of those from her house. He would scout out her parents and then leave the timing to approach them up to her. She would do it when she was ready.

It didn't take him long to find the dentist office that week and follow Dr. Wilkins nee Granger home. They were living in a cute suburban development that looked out of a muggle magazine. He took note of the address and went back home. When Hermione returned home that evening he handed her a scrap of paper with the address.

"Whenever you are ready let me know. Take your time if you need it. More harm could be done by facing them before you are prepared then if you wait a little longer."

She held onto the address for nearly a week before taking it to Snape. "I'm ready when can we go?"

He nodded and suggested the coming Saturday.

Deciding to be as muggle as possible for the first meeting they took a taxi to the little house.

They had not really made a plan as to what they would say when they got there. Snape figured Hermione probably had some kind of speech prepared so he left it to her. She had no clue what she was going to do; only that she knew anything prepared would leave her head the second the door opened.

They walked up the drive and Hermione nervously knocked on the door.

They heard feet rushing on the other side of the door and her mother's voice. "They're here Wendell." Hermione's heart started pounding faster. _They're here? Did her mother see her walking up and recognize her?_

The door flew open to her mother smiling widely at them. "You must be the people from the adoption agency. Come in, come in, Wendell is setting out tea in the sitting room."

Confused, she froze. Snape took in the problem and sprang to action. "Of course Mrs. Wilkins, I am very sorry if we are late, traffic was horrible." He purred at her. Then taking Hermione by the elbow he followed her into the house. He knew from this point on he would have to carry the visit. The Wilkins thought they were from an adoption agency so they must believe that this was some kind of interview or inspection for their suitability. Having been a spy for so long he was quick on his feet and knew how to play a role. Adoption agent couldn't be that difficult. They sat down to tea and Snape began his 'interview'. At first he was not sure if she was even aware of what was going on, she simply stared ahead with her jaw clenched.

Her mother attempted small talk as they made their way into the sitting room. "So Mr. um,"

"Snape" he supplied.

"Mr. Snape, I can tell from your accent that you too are British. What brings you out here?"

He glanced sideways at Hermione he answered, "Just in need of a change of pace. I had family out here and thought I would come join them."

"Oh that must have been nice to be able to move closer to family. Wendell and I didn't have any family left back home. We were both only children and our parents died several years ago. Having no children of our own it made the move out here easy when we also found we were in need of a change of pace."

Hermione tripped at her mother's words. Snape reached out a hand to steady her and gave her a hard look.

Her mother saw her stumble, "Oh are you alright dear. Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

Reaching the sitting room they sat down as her father brought in the tea things. Hermione couldn't get herself to look at him. Instead she focused on the hot cup of tea offered her hoping it would calm her nerves and bring this disaster into something she could grasp.

"So I know you have been all over this before but tell me a little bit about yourselves. Miss Granger if you would take notes please."

She nodded and reached into her purse to pull out a small pad of paper and a pen that she always kept with her. She sat there halfheartedly scribbling away at her pad as she listened to her mother describe how they had never had any children and had always wanted at least one. How since settling down in Australia they had found a place that they loved and believed would be the perfect environment for adopting a baby.

Snape continued to cordially asked questions and keep them talking. Hermione noticed that he used the name Wilkins rather more often than was necessary. This made it easier for her to disconnect from what was going on. It was easier to think of Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins as adopting some poor orphan over that of her parents.

It was only easy though until her parents started talking about the child.

"Oh we just can't wait to get our little girl." Her mother gushed.

"We contemplated a boy for a while but for some reason a daughter just feels as though it will fill the void in our lives so much better." was her father's comment.

Snape couldn't find anything to say to this. He knew this would be getting to a point that his companion may not be able to hear. The Wilkins, however, took it as a sign to continue.

"We have even picked out a name for her once the adoption is finalized. We have decided to name her for the heroine in Wendell's favorite Shakespearian play, Hermione. I know it's a little unconventional but we just love the name."

Hermione jumped up out of her seat pulling the attention over to her. Snape could see that she was pale. "I'm terribly sorry Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins but I have just looked at the time and I'm afraid we must be going." With that she picked up her purse and headed for the front door as fast as she could without being to rude.

Snape turned to the startled couple in front of him. "I'm very sorry, but it seems my associate is right and we are about to be late for out next appointment. We have plenty of information and I am sure the adoption agency will be contacting you shortly." He hesitated as he was about to leave the room. Not sure why he felt the need to do so he added, "And I think that the name is a lovely one."

With that he followed Hermione out the door. They barely made it to the end of the block before Hermione dodged down a disserted side street and apparated away without a word. Snape had been hoping to stop her before she disappeared, fearing that she could splinch herself in all of her distress. Deciding that she probably needed some time to herself he walked on a little further before finding his own spot to safely apparate back home.


	15. Chapter 15

Back at the house Snape went out to the garage to brew potions. He had talked with the local apothecary the day before and had set to bring in some of his work. The man may not be highly rated as a potioneer but he had business sense and knew that putting higher grade potions on his shelf was good for business. While he wouldn't hire Snape outright he was interested in purchasing potions for his stock when needed. For Snape, it wasn't steady pay but it was something for now. After finishing a batch of pepper-up potion and preparing it to be transported to Cockatiel Lane, it was late evening. Going upstairs to change he paused outside Hermione's door. He was still unsure of this whole friend thing and didn't know at what point he was supposed to check on her. He stood there for nearly a minute without hearing any noise from inside. Feeling it might be safe as there was no crying he knocked on the door. There was no answer.

"Hermione, are you in there?"

Again, there was no sound on the other side. Starting to worry, he carefully opened the door to peek in. The room was empty. He went back down stairs and looked out the back window. He still didn't see her. It had been raining heavily for at least an hour and she was nowhere to be found. Going to the front closet he grabbed his coat and an umbrella. He had a pretty good idea where she was, he just hoped she hadn't caught her death of a cold sitting outside. He spun in place and disappeared.

Hermione barely registered the loud pop that signaled someone apparating into the area. When Severus walked up he found her sitting on a large rock with her knees pulled up to her chest. She was soaked through and watching the rain fall on the waves below.

He walked over holding the umbrella over both of them and cast a drying spell on the rock before sitting down next to her. He wanted to cast a drying spell on her as well but decided instead to remove his coat and place it around her shivering frame.

They sat there in silence for some time. Severus was unsure what to say to console her. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like to sit there and listen to her parents talk about always wanting a child and then to hear they wanted to name the child with her name. It seemed as though they were attempting to replace her with another version of her.

Hermione finally broke the silence, "I feel like maybe I should just leave them alone. They have a whole life here that they are happily living."

"Yes they do but it is not their life. It is Monica and Wendell Wilkins' life. None of this is anything they would have done as Grangers."

"But it is not just them anymore. There is this baby too. Is it fair for me to take back parents that I sent off when it means a child who doesn't have parents will continue to not have parents?"

"First of all you sent them away as a means to keep them alive. It was the only thing to do. Do not think for a moment that they would have been okay otherwise. The muggle parents of Harry Potter's best friend who is a, excuse the term, mudblood with more magical ability at 15 than a large number of the pureblood families in the forefront of Voldemort's ranks. Believe me when I say that they were on a list of muggles to be dealt with."

Hermione had a chill run down her spine that had nothing to do with being wet.

Severus continued, "I am sure once they know all the particulars that they will come to terms with what happened. Besides they may still choose to adopt the baby it just wouldn't be another Hermione. Personally, I do not think I could tolerate a world with two of you in it. One has been trouble enough for my life time."

This last part had the desired effect of pulling Hermione out of her dark mood. She let out a small laugh and leaned her head again his shoulder. She was thankful for the support that he was offering her both physically and mentally. They again sank into silence until Hermione shivered again.

"Come, we need to get you home and dry before you catch a cold."

As they stood Severus noticed she was moving slowly, probably stiff from the cold and sitting in one position for so long. He extended his elbow for her to take and took her home.

Once they were home and Hermione had taken a hot bath and changed into some dry clothes she joined him in the living room. He had made a large pot of tea and poured them each a glass. While she sipped at her tea, Hermione contemplated the man sitting across from her reading. He was so much more relaxed now then he had been at Hogwarts. Of course she never knew what he was like during his private time but she never would have imagined him comforting someone out in the rain by a beach.

Even comparing how he was now to when he had been staying at her house there was a marked difference. While he was still sarcastic and could be harsh in his criticism while they were brewing he didn't seem the same man he had been before. She had always trusted him as a teacher except for during her seventh year before she knew the events surrounding Dumbledore's death. Now just a few months later, he was her roommate and friend. He had been noticeably uncomfortable with the friend title at first but he was slowing getting better at it. She had to admit no longer having someone to answer to was agreeing with him. Also not having the dark mark seemed to cause an improvement in his demeanor as well. She was grateful to have him around, he seemed to always know just what to say to make her stop dwelling on the negative, and surprisingly he would following it up with some kind of simple comment that would lighten her mood.

She didn't realize how long she had been staring at him until he pulled her out of her revelry.

"Hermione, you are staring. I wish you would share whatever it is that is amusing you because you are starting to creep me out looking at me like that."

She shook her head and realized she had been smiling at him. "Oh er, it is nothing I was just lost in thought. Sorry."

He gave her a nod and returned to his book. She picked up the newspaper and started leafing through it to distract herself. Seeing that the storm was supposed to blow itself out that night and the weather would be hot the next day finally heralding the arrival of the southern hemispheres summer, she came up with a plan.

"Severus."

"Hmmm,"

"We never had a chance to celebrate that you are a free man. It is supposed to be hot tomorrow, why don't we have a day out at the beach. I think we could both use a day of fun and I am sure I could get the day off of work."

Severus grimaced. A day at the beach was not really his idea of fun. However, he was taken aback that she would want to celebrate the removal of his mark and decided to go along with it. Worst case scenario he would bring a book and find somewhere to hide in the shade while she was off gallivanting in the water.

"If you would like. But I warn you I have never been one for sunbathing."

She laughed at his remark. "Whoever would have guessed you are always so tan." She added sarcastically.

He shook his head at her and went back to reading his book only half listening as she talked about the different beaches her coworker had been telling her about.

**A/N: Hmmm… more Severus the comforter who would have thought. **


	16. Chapter 16

The next day dawned bright and hot making it a perfect day for a trip to the beach. As Hermione made a picnic lunch for them she couldn't help but think of the strangeness around going to a beach in the beginning of December. Even knowing it was the start of the summer down here did not change the fact that Christmas could be spent on the beach working on a tan. Going upstairs to get herself ready, she changed into a bathing suit with a skirt and tank top on over top.

Once ready she went into the garage where Severus was double checking the potions he would drop off at the apothecaries on their way.

Hermione stopped in at her work while Severus delivered his potions.

"Hey Julie" She greeted her coworker, "I was wondering if you had a lot of work for me today or if I could maybe have a day off to go to the beach?"

"Not really, I am still working on this stupid 'boomerang of no return'." Hermione let out a small laugh at the name her co-worker had given the stubborn item. "It's still refusing to come back after you throw it. You gave me plenty of information on the thing it just does not want to respond. I might even close up early and take a beach day myself. You going with anyone or just having a 'you' day?"

"I am going with my roommate. I don't know if he has ever been snorkeling and I hear there are several types of coral that are good for potions ingredients. I might use that to tempt him into the water."

"You have to tempt him? What kind of person wouldn't want to get in the water on a day like today?"

Hermione shrugged, "He just isn't really like other people. Nor does he really like other people for that matter. I am kind of surprised he even agreed to do this. He did bring a bag but it is much more likely to be filled with books than swimwear."

The two girls stopped talking when the bell at the front door rang signaling someone entering the shop. Hermione didn't pay much attention as she was not on duty, but Julie turned to greet the potential customer. "G'day sir, what can I help you this fine morning?"

"I have come to collect my roommate for her beach trip." Came Severus' low baritone.

Hermione turned to greet him

Julie's brow shot up at this. _So this is Hermione's elusive roommate._

"Of course, she is all yours."

She looked Severus up and down as he turned to hold the door open for Hermione. While the younger girl smiled at him and gave her a wave goodbye, she seemed to not see what Julie was able to quickly take in.

Maybe it was because she was closer in age to him or maybe it was seeing him with no memories of a professor clouding her judgment, but Julie was struck by the figure of the man in front of her. He was wearing a pair of fitted black trousers with a black short sleeve button down shirt and, while not beach wear for a long shot, it looked good. The next time that girl came in she was going to have to do some digging, because if there was nothing going on between those two she wanted to know.

Not knowing how crowded the beach would be with muggles the two chose to take a cab to the beach. Hermione laid out two towels on the beach and pulled out a book to read while tanning. Severus sat down beside her and pulled out a book of his own.

"You know," Hermione said, "you are going to bake in those clothes here. While I understand it is your signature lack of color, black does have a tendency to attract heat."

He rolled his eyes at her, "Are you a witch or not Hermione? Two words for you cooling spell, remember that."

It was her turn to roll her eyes at him, "Whatever, show off. Change of subject, how did it go at the apothecary?"

"While nowhere near a master himself the man can spot quality when it is placed under his nose. He bought the lot of pepper-up. However, he can only sell it under his grade which means a lower price until I get myself registered as a licensed potion supplier here."

"How do you go about doing that?"

"I need to go to the ministry, show my accreditation and pray they don't send off to Britain for a background check."

"Oh but that could mean..."

"That could mean they find out a deatheater got into their country and past their checks. It could be bad. Or it could be nothing. Very few people have seen my mark I may be able to talk my way out of anything and the worst thing is the British ministry knows I'm alive. Either way, I am not going to attempt it until after we deal with your parents."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off, "If you say thank you again or god forbid sorry I will bury you in the sand here and now."

She glared at him, "You wouldn't dare, and there are muggles everywhere. I think they would notice a mound of sand flying up in the air to instantly cover someone."

He quickly looked around and with a flick his wand was out and she was covered up to knees in sand. She let out a gasp of shock and he stowed his wand back away giving her a smirk.

"Amazing, they never noticed a thing."

She wiggled her legs out from the sand and tucked them under herself. "Point taken but don't get cocky, the last thing we need is to get into any trouble."

"Because you have always been the paragon of virtue, never getting mixed up in any kind of trouble."  
Hermione grabbed a handful of sand and flung it at his arm. He nonchalantly dusted himself off shaking his head at her before resuming his book.

As the morning progressed Hermione found the heat starting to get to her. She closed her book and wiped the sweat away that was forming on her brow.

"I don't think I can take the heat much longer. Care to join me for a dip in the water?"

Severus glanced up over the top of his book, "Hardly. Besides if we both go who will watch our stuff?"

Hermione crossed her arms, "Are you a wizard or what, two words for you, protective charms." She threw his words from earlier back at him.

He snorted and attempted to stall her again. "I have no swim trunks sorry."

"Sorry to you too, go into the loo and transfigure them into shorts. Come on, there are supposed to be a bunch of coral out there that has some interesting properties when used in potions. Don't tell me you are not a little bit interested in taking a look?"

He snapped his book shut, "Fine I will be right back, and you ward our things."

While he was off 'changing' Hermione ran up to a stall set up at the top of the beach that was selling snorkeling kits and bought two. Severus soon returned still wearing his tee shirt but now they were paired with a pair of black board shorts. Hermione cast one more anti-muggle charm around their things before wrapping up her wand and hiding it in her bag. While Severus could still hide his wand in his long shorts, girl bathing suits didn't offer such a thing to her.

She handed him his new snorkeling set and they headed off to the water. Neither had ever snorkeled before so they stuck to the shallows at first until they got the hang of it. Once they had it, they headed out deeper where the coral was growing. There were several others out looking at the colorful sea life. They were separated several times but Hermione was able to quickly find him each time as he was the only all black thing in the water. Having never actually seen any of the coral they were unsure which ones to harvest from or even if it was the right time to harvest. Besides with the number of people around, removing pieces of coral could result in trouble with the muggle authorities. After an hour of exploring the sea they headed back to their things to eat lunch and take a break.

Following lunch Hermione was eager to head back out to the water and Severus didn't take much coaxing to join her again. While eating Hermione had pulled out a book on magical coral and they had poured over the pictures and descriptions of the typed found in the area. Both feeling better prepared they headed back out. This time, Hermione pulled a sarong out of her bag that had a long pocket sewn into the inside near her hip. Having been out in the water once she felt confident that she could swim while wearing it without it getting caught on the coral.

More people had decided to take a lunch break so they had relatively few people out with them at the coral beds. They took to swimming around until one of them spotted a grouping of coral from the book. Severus would hand his snorkeling equipment to Hermione and swim down to take a closer look at the coral. At the third grouping of coral Hermione found herself staring at the stark contrast he made in his all black clothing next to the vibrant pinks, purples, and greens of the coral. Feeling a little on the feisty side she quickly pulled out her wand and pointed it at Severus. Being fairly adept at nonverbal she was able to change his short color to a bright blue Hawaiian print and stow her wand back in its pocket before he swam back up to her. They surfaced so he could put his snorkeling gear back on and she struggled to keep a straight face. She did not succeed.

"What is so funny?" He asked.

"Oh nothing! I just saw a fish that made me laugh as it made its way through the coral."

They continued to swim around for a while longer before Severus motioned that they head back to the shore. Hermione meekly followed behind him waiting to see when he would notice the change in his attire. He didn't notice until he stood to walk out of the water. Hermione was right behind him when she heard him.

"Oh bloody hell! Hermione what on earth is this?"

She chocked back the laughter she felt welling up inside of her. "Well Severus it would appear to be Hawaiian print. I must say it looks very nice on you."

Without a word he reached out and pushed her back into the water. She came up sputtering and laughing. He dived back out into the water and once he was far enough out pulled out his wand and keeping it under water, changed his shorts back to black. She swam out next to him.

"Aw, you really should have kept the color at least."

"I would thank you to leave my wardrobe choices alone. I do not criticize what you wear."

"That is because I own items in more than one color. If I wore all red you would have something to say would you not?"

"That is not a relevant comparison. Wearing all black does not make me look like I am trying to impersonate a large apple. Lots of people wear all black."

"Yes but it is not all they wear seriously. I would swear you are afraid of color."

"I am not afraid of it I simply just don't like wearing it. And I would appreciate it if you left it alone. I will wear color when and only when I feel like it. Believe it or not but I do own some things that are not all black."

While arguing they paddled back to shore and made their way over to their things.

"One of these days you are going to have to prove that statement."

Having spent the better part of the day at the beach they decided to head back to their house. Since there was no place out of sight they could apparate from outside they chose to head to the public changing rooms and apparate from there when the room cleared out. Severus didn't have to wait long for the men's side to empty out, but Hermione had to stand around for the better part of a half hour pretending to work on detangling her hair before it she was able to leave. Once they had changed into dry clothes and put their things away Snape headed back out to the garage to work on a couple of potions needed for the apothecary.

As he walked past Hermione she put her hand on his arm to stop him, "I had fun today, thank you for joining me. I know you really didn't want to come."

He looked down at her hand resting on his arm and shrugged, "It was enjoyable for me as well, and no thanks are necessary. That is what friends are for correct?"

She smiled at him happy to hear him declare them as friends, "Yes it is."

With that she let him go into the garage and headed to the kitchen to start some dinner for them for later.

**A/N: So this was just a little fluff piece to break some of the tension Hermione is going through now back to business.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Suddenly can't remember if I ever disclaimered this! But I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.**

Severus waited until the weekend to bring up Hermione's parents again. "Are you ready to start preparing to get your parents back? We need to do something before they adopt this child."

Hermione hesitated; she still was unsure what to do with the baby adoption process.

He shook his head at her, "Hermione, this needs to happen. If they are going to adopt this baby it needs to happen through their choice as parents not as the Wilkins's who have never had a child."

"I know, I know. It's just difficult to think of them replacing me."

"They are not replacing you. They can't replace something they never knew they had. If anything they are trying to create you."

She hadn't thought of it like that before but it made sense. They wanted a daughter so badly that they were adopting a girl and giving her the same name as the actual daughter they didn't remember having.

"Okay, what do I need to do?"

"First I need to know everything you did to remove yourself from their life down to the smallest detail. I need the incantation including the pronunciations, I need to know to what extent their muggle paper work was changed, and what you did to things such as pictures to remove yourself from them."

Hermione went over the whole painful process with him. It took her a while as each detail she had to give made her feel like she was reliving the experience. Severus was patient with her, quietly taking notes on what happened and what would be needed to reverse it. He didn't push her knowing that she would give every possible detail, weather it was needed or not, something that had carried over from her school days. It took most of the day for Hermione to give him all of the information he needed. When it was finished she was drained. Getting up off the couch she headed for the stairs.

"Hermione…" Severus called to her as she walked away.

She turned back to look at him, "I'm okay really. I just need to go lay down for a little bit. Don't worry this was good, only tiring. No dark places for me today."

He nodded and let her go. _No dark places_ he thought. It was the words he had used that first night at the cliff. He had brought up his own dark place that night to get her to understand that it was something she didn't want to get stuck in. He was surprised to hear that those words had stuck with her. She was obviously struggling with her _dark places_. She had lost to them the night they had seen her parents

Severus thought back to his own dark places and came to the realization he wasn't stuck anymore. He was no longer off sulking alone. While he was by no means a happy, bubbly person, and hopefully never would be, he was living a normal life for perhaps the first time ever. He had a friend, a real friend that was truly concerned for his welfare. He was building towards a job of his choosing, even if it was low pay until he managed to get certified. And lastly, he no longer held a daily reminder of the mistake he had made. The mark was gone and no one here held his past actions over his head. He had let go of Lily when he had thought he was letting go of his life, when he survived he found forgiveness offered from the young girl who had given enough of a damn to save him. Forgiveness offered with nothing expected in return. She had not expected him to help her and had so far shown him how grateful she was that he had freely chosen to help her. He watched her walk away and realized that he hoped she was truly able to keep her dark place at bay tonight. But if she didn't he would be there for her just as she had been for him. Offering continued forgiveness until her parents' were able to give it to her.

Now that he had all the information needed Severus spent the next few days going over spells needed to return the Granger's memories to them. The only part he was worried about was that as there was no hope of getting them to sit calmly to let him restore the memories he would probably have to use force.

They had a plan to get into the house. Since by now they had probably figured out they were not from the adoption agency they would be as truthful as possible and make sure to go when only Hermione's mother was at home. He had Hermione pull out some photos of her with her parents and would use it to get her to let them in to talk. If needed he would body bind her and feed her some draught of the living dead to put her to sleep so that he could perform the spell. Her father he was less sure about. Hermione had said that while her dad was difficult to make angry, once he felt his family was threatened he could become unmanageable.

They set the date and Hermione made sure to get it off. She laid awake for most of the night, terrified of what the next day might bring. They had decided to go shortly after her dad would have left for work giving them the whole day to work on her mother and maybe have her calmed down before her father showed up.

The sun was shining brightly as they walked up the drive to the front door. Hermione hoped it was a good omen for the day and not the gods mocking her and her task. Before knocking on the door she glanced back at her companion who gave her a reassuring nod.

They heard her mother come forward and stop at the door to look through the peep hole. The door opened a crack to show a glaring Mrs. Wilkins. Hermione shrank back as the anger she saw emanating from her mother. "What is it you want this time? And don't even try giving me a line about the adoption agency because I already know you don't work for them."

"I'm sorry about that it's just… um…" Hermione failed to find the words to calm her mother. Severus took over.

"Mrs. Wilkins, I am very sorry for the deception we used the last time we were here. My name is Severus Snape and I promise you that this time we are here to be completely honest with you."

Monica Wilkins raised her eyebrows at Severus reminding him strongly of the other woman standing beside him. "Miss Granger," he said turning towards her, "would you hand me the photos please?"

Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out several pictures she had chosen for this. None of them were too recent, photos of them on a vacation when she was 7, her 11th birthday, the day she had gotten her Hogwarts letter, and the skiing trip later that same year. None of the pictures showed her past the age of 13, nothing to make it seem as though she had seen them since then.

She handed the pictures to Severus and he held them out to Mrs. Wilkins. "If you would just take a moment to look at these please."

She opened the door wider so that she could take the photos then moved it back to its previous position. She let out a gasp when she looked at the pictures.

"What is this all about? How do you have pictures of me and my husband and who is this girl in the photos?"

"It's me. I'm the girl in the picture." Came Hermione's response, it was barely audible but her mother looked at her.

"This isn't possible. Other than the other day I have never seen you before. I don't even know your name. "

Severus answered her, "It is our belief ma'am that you are actually this girl's mother." He motioned back to Hermione who just stared at her mother wishing that she could just remember her.

"What! I don't have a daughter. If I did I doubt I would be adopting." She stepped back as if she was going to close the door.

"Ma'am, please hear me out." Severus said putting out his hand to stop the door. "Over a year ago, her parents disappeared. There was a war in Britain that was very quiet, not many outside of those involved even knew it was happening. During this time many people were killed and even more disappeared."

Up to this point he had made sure to be as truthful as possible but he knew here that he would have to bend the truth. If he came out and said she and her husband had their minds magically altered by their witch daughter the door would close and she would believe them crazy, maybe even resort to calling the police on them before he could do anything to stop her. He would have to use more muggle means to convince her of who she was.

"Mrs. Wilkins, have you ever heard of a thing call a dissociative fugue?"

She looked at him warily, "Like in that move Nurse Betty?"

He nodded; thankful he had done his research on this subject. "Yes just like in the movie. We believe that this may have occurred to you and your husband."

"But how could this have happened to us. We obviously were able to stay together through this, and even assumed a new joint identity according to you. How could this have happened and our daughter not be included?"

"Because she was away at the time, in boarding school."

She stared at the pair on her doorstep for several minutes trying to take this all in. She thought back to a year ago when she and her husband had woke up feeling like they wanted out of Britain. Could it be possible that what this man was telling her was true?

Hermione finally stepped forward. "Ma'am the name you picked for the child you are going to adopt, your husband's favorite character from **A Winter's Tale **by Shakespeare, well that is my name also. I am Hermione. Can we please come in? I would really love to just talk to you please."

Monica Wilkins didn't know why, but when this young girl practically begged to be let in she felt her defensiveness fade and without knowing why she stepped back and held the door open for them to enter.

They went in and she led them back into the same sitting room they had sat in before.

Monica was the first to speak. "So other than the pictures what make you think that this is really us? I have heard of people who look alike what if you have the wrong people."

Hermione took a deep breath, "I know it's you because of the way you speak. You were raised in Yorkshire but went to a dental college in Oxford. You loved the atmosphere and the way the academics talk there so you picked up some of their mannerisms. That is where you met Da… er your husband. He was in your year and teased you mercilessly for working to be a dentist and not an assistant like so many other women."

"How do you know all this?"

Hermione smiled, "Because you told me. I was having problems with a boy shortly before you left and so you decided to share the story of how you guys met."

"If this is all true then what do you expect to happen here? I mean you know things that you couldn't know unless you knew me but I don't have just memories for a short period of time I remember my whole life, all of it and there is no daughter in it."

Severus pulled out a small vial from his pocket, "If you were to take this it would help you. I believe I can get all these memories back. I can restore you to who you use to be give you back all your memories that were, well, taken from you."

He caught a glace of Hermione's pained expression out of the corner of his eye when he said this. He hated to do it but he was trying to get her mother to cooperate. Her being relaxed was the thing that would make the transition easier.

Her mother noticed the look also, she didn't know why but it didn't seem to her to just be the look of someone missing her parents, this girl looked guilty. The look on her face said that she had committed some horrible crime of offence and that put her back on her guard.

"And just what it that supposed to do?"

"It will make you relax allowing me to perform hypnosis on you to recall the memories."

"You mean that it will put me to sleep. I've seen people hypnotized before Mr. Snape and they are not just relaxed they are oblivious to what is going on around them." She stood up, "I don't think this is a good idea and I am starting to believe that you should go. I'm not sure I believe you about this whole crazy affair and I sure as hell don't trust you enough to just let you put me to sleep with no one else here in the house."

"Mrs. Wilkins it will only take a few moments and if you are right and we have the wrong people then no memories will reappear and we will be on our way and you can continue with your life as if we were never here. But if we are right you would be reunited with your daughter."

"No," She said firmly, "I want you to leave. I don't trust either of you. You seem convincing enough but there is guilt written all over her face. I don't know what you two are up to but you are not pulling your scam over on me."

She held her arm out in front of her motioning for them to leave. Severus shook his head and looked between the two women. "I'm very sorry it should come to this, for both of you."

Monica Wilkins watched in horror as Hermione dropped her head into her hands and the man reached into his coat. Thinking he was about to pull a gun she turned to run hoping to lock herself in a room and call the police.

It wasn't stop, or freeze, or even a gun shot that she heard next, it was the words "Pertrificus totalus" and an unusual feeling washed over her. She felt her legs snap together and her arms straighten at her side. Her forward momentum however was still there, and all she could do was watch helplessly as the ground moved closer. Right before she hit she heard the man say another strange word. "Mobilicorpus."

Her falling stopped and she was hovering above ground unable to move. She was floated back over to the couch where she was laid down. Her mind was racing and she fought with ever fiber in her being to get free and away from whatever was happening here. The man uncorked the small bottle and moved towards her. He held a stick in his hand and he pointed it at her. "Incarcerous."

She watched as ropes sprang from the tip of the stick to wrap themselves securely around her.

Snape worked quickly next casting a muffliato charm around the living room so if she screamed no one could hear her and with her properly tied up, he release the body bind curse. She immediately started to wiggle and yell out for help. He uncorked the bottle and stepped forward. He took hold of her face and poured the liquid into her mouth clamping his hand over her mouth and plugging her nose forcing her to swallow. Monica was surprised to find it tasted like mint.

Running out of air quickly from struggling she had no choice she had to swallow. It only took a moment for her to start to feel sleepy. As she drifted off she heard the young woman speak.

"Severus, please let this work I want my mother back."

"I'll do my best Hermione."

With that she drifted off to sleep.

**A/N: So we have hit the halfway point of the story. Hope everyone is enjoying this leap into the literary!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hold on to your hats people this is a long one. Sorry but I just couldn't think of a way of breaking this chapter up. Also, thank you again for all the reviews and positive feedback. ***I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

Hermione came over to stand next to Severus once her mother had succumbed to the potion. "I wish she would have believed us. It was my fault; I should have kept a straight face."

"It is okay Hermione no one ever said this was going to be an easy task. Now are you sure you can do this next part. If your father should return before I am finished you will have to stun him or bind him. If I am interrupted before it is finished then the results could be disastrous for both of us. I am going to delve into your mothers mind to find all the transfigured memories so I can reverse the process. I am not sure how long it will take as I don't know all the memories involved."

Hermione took a shaky breath and pulled out her own wand. "Yes, I'm ready. I'll do what needs to be done."

Severus went and retrieved a chair from the dining room and sat down next to the prone form of the hopefully soon to be Mrs. Granger. He took a calming breath and pointed his wand at her head, "Legilimens." He felt himself pulled deep into her mind. He had to be careful as he picked through the memories looking for the day Hermione was born. Each memory he would pull forward would flash through her mind as if it were a dream. His goal was to make sure to start at the beginning so that the whole thing would play out in order allowing her to relive it in dream form making it an easier transition once she awoke.

It didn't take long for him to find the tampered with memory. He was sorry to see that is was poorly done and anyone who knew what they were looking for would have found the memory that didn't quite sit right in the woman's subconscious.

He began muttering the counter spell and watched as Mr. and Mrs. Granger found out that she was pregnant. Once he unraveled this first memory the others started to line themselves up to be revealed. The process was relatively quick until he reached the point that Hermione was about 5. He figured this must have been the point that her memories of her parents were really clear for her. Having a shared link with the memory allowed her to go in and remove it much more effectively. The spell work involved became much slower and he struggled through the complicated weave that Hermione had placed around these better known memories.

Hermione watched as Severus went into her mother's mind. His face became more relaxed then she had ever seen it as he pushed his way through the memories. When he began the incantation she listened almost mesmerized as it came out. It was gentle, soothing, almost like a song. After a while of listening, Hermione shook her head snapping herself out of her thoughts. Although it was still morning she needed to stay alert in case her father chose to come home early for lunch.

She sat there with her wand out knowing that if her father did walk in and her wand was not already drawn she may hesitate resulting in heavy repercussions for them all.

After a few hours Hermione felt her stomach begin to rumble. She knew if she was getting hungry Snape and her mother must be too. She went to the front door and cast a locking spell on the door so that her father's key wouldn't work. She went into the kitchen and pulled out the fixing for some sandwiches and set them out on a plate on the counter. She also found mix for lemonade and made a pitcher to chill for later. Grabbing one of the sandwiches she ended the spell on the front door and returned to the sitting room to find Severus still immersed in her mother's mind.

Around four o'clock she heard a car door slam outside. She got up and quickly moved to hide around the corner from the front door. She would have to stun her father the second the door shut. As she waited her breathing started to come fast and she could feel her hands shaking. _You have to do this Hermione, now stop it and be brave_ she told herself. A moment later she heard the door open and Wendell Wilkins walked in. "Sweetheart I'm home." He closed the front door and opened the small closet door to hang up his coat. Hermione jumped out from her hiding place and pointed her wand at her father. He started to turn in response to the movement. His jaw dropped open to yell but he didn't have the chance as Hermione cast a stunning spell straight at his chest. A look of shock crossed his features as he fell forward. Hermione who was breathing hard could only watch as he hit the ground. She felt horrified at what she had just done. It was one thing to stun someone who was your enemy and was trying to harm you, but this was her own father and the guilt of the task weighed heavily on her. Once she got her breath back and her hands had slowed in their shaking she cast Mobilicorpus and levitated him into the sitting room. Since the couch was taken by her mother, she placed him gently on one of the chairs and bound him in ropes as well. She debated putting another silencing spell around him as well so that she wouldn't be able to hear him yelling if he woke but decided against it. She felt she deserved whatever he threw at her for her actions.

He father was still stunned a half hour later when Severus shook his head and stood up. He looked tired after his task and stretched out his sore muscles.

Hermione looked at him expectantly with bated breath, afraid to ask him how it went.

He looked over at her. "It is done. I scoured her memory twice and found all the memories you had changed. You did a poor job of hiding the ones from when you were a baby but the ones from when you were older were rather difficult."

Hermione let out the breath she was holding and buried her face in her hands doing her best to not cry in relief.

Severus turned and saw her father sitting on the chair with a glazed over look in his eyes and knew that Hermione had stunned him. He understood why she looked more stressed now than she had when he had first started on her mother.

"I suggest we give her a little more sleeping draught just to make sure that she doesn't wake up before I am finished with your father. It would be best if they were to come to around the same time."

Hermione nodded and wiped at her face. "Okay sounds good. I made sandwiches earlier. You might want to eat something." She quickly walked into the kitchen and Severus followed her. He stood at the counter and helped himself to a sandwich while she busied herself getting a glass of lemonade for him. He took it from her with a quiet thanks. She stood there nervously wringing her hands and staring out the window while he ate. It was enough to give him indigestion.

"Hermione stop it. Everything is going fine. The spell should have worked with your mother and it will be easier with your father as I already know the bulk of the memories since they were shared with your mother. Stop your fretting, you are starting to make me nervous."

"Sorry, it is just really intense watching all this. I have no clue what is going on."

"It will be over soon."

He gulped down a second sandwich and finished off the lemonade in his glass.

"Let's go take care of your father before he wakes up and freaks out."

"Don't you have to wake him up to drink the potion?"

"I am relying on the initial grogginess to tone things down a bit."

They went back to the sitting room where her father was still tied up.

"I suggest you untie your mother before I bring your father around."

Hermione nodded and pointing her wand at her mother said, "Relashio" causing the ropes to untie and disappear. Once that was done Severus turned to the man on the couch and said, "Rennervate"

Her father stirred and opened his eyes to find himself sitting on the couch tied up. "Huh, what is..." he focused his eyes on the people in front of him to find the man and woman who had claimed they were from the adoption agency. As he opened his mouth to holler and Severus grabbed his face and poured the contents of a second vial into his mouth. Wendell attempted to spit out the mint flavored liquid but Severus clamped his hand over his mouth and plugged his nose like he had down to Hermione's mother. He struggled again Severus for several seconds before a lack of oxygen finally forced him to swallow as well. Severus let him go and apologized to the man as he drifted off to sleep.

Before he ventured into the man's mind Severus looked over at Hermione. She was clutching at her wand and had tears running down her face. It didn't seem as though she realized they were falling. He hated that she was there to watch, he should have sent her into another room before he woke her father. He had known that the man would be harder to tame than his wife.

Knowing he needed to focus on what he was about to do he closed his eyes and cleared his mind before pointing his wand at Wendell Wilkins for what would hopefully be the last time.

He was correct in assuming that the father would take less time than the mother since many of the memories were the same. It was also easier because this time he knew what to look for to undo Hermione's magic.

It was around 8pm when he finally withdrew from his mind. He was exhausted both mentally and physically from maintaining the spell to stay in someone's mind for so long. He looked around the room saw Hermione curled up on the other chair, fast asleep. Her mother was also still sleeping. He stood and stretched for a moment, enjoying the quiet of the room for a moment. His mind was still racing from all that he had seen that day. Rubbing at his temples he walked over the Hermione and nudged her awake.

"Hermione I'm finished, wake up."

She sat up fast, "It's done, how did it go?"

"I believe it went well. It went faster like I said it would but I should have found all of the memories. Now we just have to wait for them to wake up so we can see if it holds."

"How long should that take?" she asked.

"Based on their body weight and the amounts given them they should be around any time."

She sat forward expectantly watching her parents for any sign of movement. She was both excited and terrified. If they didn't remember they would have to get out of their fast and hopefully not have the police show up on their doorstep.

Finally her mother started to stir, Hermione resisted the urge to run over and sit next to her. If it hadn't worked, she would be freaked out enough without someone's face being there the second she opened her eyes.

Severus stepped back to stand out in the hall. He didn't want to go far in case he had to grab Hermione and leave but he knew that if everything went as planned they would need time alone. Her mother opened her eyes and looked around in a daze. She was groggy from being asleep all day and her head was pounding. She pushed herself up on her elbow to find someone staring at her. She blinked several times trying to bring her into focus.

Hermione moved forward, "Mom?" she said hesitantly.

Her mother shook her head as if trying to clear it. "Her… Hermione? Is that you?"

Hermione let out a breath, "Oh my god, it worked." She whispered.

"What is going on Hermione? I remember everything, but it is all mixed up. I feel like I have two lives and they are not fitting together."

Hermione began crying and stumbled forward to kneel at her mother's feet. "I'm so sorry mom I had to do it. I had to send you away…"

Before she could say anything else her father woke up. "Elizabeth, Hermione? What is happening? I walked in the door and then I woke up on the couch to someone was standing over me. I think I was tied up."

Elizabeth looked from her husband to her daughter. "Yes I was tied up too. Hermione where is that man? Did he do anything to you?"

"No mom, he was helping us. Do you remember this morning when we were here and he said he wanted to hypnotize you?"

Her mother nodded vaguely "Yes he said your father and I had been through something traumatic and has gone into a fugue. But even with my memories here I still don't remember what happened."

Hermione sniffed a few times before speaking, "Nothing happened to you. There was no fugue. I made you forget. I took your memories away and sent you to Australia. I had to do it. There was a war, things were getting bad. I had to send you away to keep you alive. I was afraid they would come for you and I needed to go with Harry to help him to end the war. I am so sorry I never wanted to do it but I didn't know what else to do or who I could trust."

Her parent stared at her as they tried to assimilate what she had just told her with what they remembered from the past year. "Hermione you just sent us away? Why would you do that? Why didn't you come with us?"

"I was needed by Harry and Ron. We had to do something, we were entrusted with a task that would end everything, which it did, it just took a long time. I came for you as soon as I could, as soon as I knew it was safe."

Her father finally spoke up, "Hermione I think your mother and I need a moment to get this straightened out. I have so many things going through my head right now, I feel as though I have went through the last eighteen years just today. Maybe we can understand what happened and what you are telling us once our brains stop spinning."

"Okay, I am sure you are hungry, I'll go make some dinner and we can talk when you are ready."

She stood up and made her way into the kitchen. She sat down at the counter and put her head down. Her parents had gotten their memories back but she didn't know if she was going to get them back.

She lifted her head when she heard footsteps enter the kitchen. Severus walked in and stood next to her. "They just need time Hermione; they have been through a lot today and in the past year. Remembering they have a child, coping with the fact that the child is the one that took herself out of their lives all for a war that was not a part of their world."  
She started to cry again, "How can they forgive me for this. I used my magic against them, how can they ever trust me again?"

He walked up and put his hand on her back, it was awkward but he sensed that she needed some kind of physical reassurance and at this moment he was all she had. "They will forgive you Hermione, I know they will, just give them some time."

She looked up at him, "How do you know?"

"Because I saw it Hermione, I spent the day in their minds, seeing your lives together. They love you and they will forgive you once they understand."

She smiled up at him reassured at his words. She leaned her head against his side trying to let herself believe what he had told her. This was the second time she had physically leaned on him, he stood there unsure what to do. He knew she needed him though, and while not opposed to being there for her, he didn't know what to do about this. After a moment he cleared his throat, she sat up. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." She said staring at her hands.

He didn't know if it had to do with watching her through her parent's memories that day or something else but he felt a need to protect her even if it was from himself.

"No need to apologize." It came out gruff, even to him. "Why don't we make your parents dinner and then I will go so that you three can talk."

She looked up at him her eyes wide, "Do you have to leave?"

"I think it would be best." He said moving around the counter to start getting out something to cook.

"Oh ok."

"It will be fine Hermione and I will be at the house if you need me."

She felt like she should thank him but knew that he would just shrug it off or give her some sarcastic comment. So instead she joined him. Hermione slid off the stool and pulled out some frozen chicken and placed it in the microwave to defrost. She pulled some noodles out of the cupboard and handed them to him.

"Would you boil some noodles, I think I'll just put together a simple casserole." They busied themselves getting the meal ready. Severus boiled the noodles and chopped some vegetables while Hermione fried the chicken and shredded cheese. When the chicken was finished Hermione chopped it up and mixed the noodles, chicken and vegetables together in a casserole dish before covering it with the cheese and placing it in the oven.

Severus sat around with her until it was almost finished before wishing her luck and making his way out the back door. He disappeared with a pop just as her parents walked into the kitchen together.

She gave them a weak smile and turned to pull the food from the oven.

"Dinner smells nice honey." Her mother said. Hermione could tell she was trying to be nice despite the awkwardness surrounding them.

He father looked around the kitchen, "Did your, um, friend just leave, we thought we heard the sound your guys make when you disappear."

"Ya, he didn't want to be in the way. But he helped to make the dinner."

Her dad nodded. He and his wife had spent the last hour talking things over and coming to grips with where their live had ended up. While they were thankful to have their daughter back, if a little angry and confused as to why she did everything, he was not too sure about the man that had tied up both him and his wife.

Hermione started at her parents. They obviously remembered everything including that she was a witch and that they could apparate. They seemed apprehensive but they were speaking to her which was more than she had expected to get out of them tonight, if they had ever decided to speak to her again other than to say get out of our house.

She couldn't help it; she was so exhausted from not sleeping and the stress of the day, that she again started to cry. Motherly instincts kicking in, Elizabeth rushed over to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her. "It's okay sweetie, everything will be ok. We don't understand but you are such a smart and loving girl we know you would never send us away unless it was necessary."

Relief didn't even begin to describe the feeling that washed over Hermione at her mother's words. Her knees gave out sending mother and daughter crashing to the ground still embracing.

Thomas Granger walked over and put his arms around his girl, both of whom were now crying. The three sat there on the floor for a while until both women had finally stopped crying. Thomas gave them both a smile and tilted his daughter's face up to his.

"Come, now that you two are all cried out, why don't we have some dinner. I don't know about you two but I am starving."

He stood and taking their hands, helped to pull them to their feet. They spent the remainder of the evening enjoying dinner and Hermione told them everything about her last year. They were terrified at the danger their daughter had put herself through. But they understood that it was needed and she, at least, had come out safely.

Finally it was getting late and Hermione decided it was time to get going. Her parents tried to talk her into staying with them but she declined saying that she needed to get home. She had to work tomorrow and doubted she could get another day off as no one knew of what was going on in her personal life. She promised to come over as soon as she was done for the day. After giving them both long hugs she slipped out the front door and started walking down the street. When she got to a darker part of the road she turned in place and disappeared.


	19. Chapter 19

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

Snape was asleep on the couch when he was awakened by the sound of Hermione apparating into the house. He sat up and stood to move towards the front door to see how she was. He had barely made it away from the couch when she rounded a corner with a huge smile plastered on her face. He gave her one of his rare half smiles in return. Without warning she ran up and wrapped her arms around him, enveloping him in a hug. He took a step backwards trying to maintain his balance at the force of her moving into him.

"Hermione what…"

"Just thank you. Thank you so much." She said pulling back from him still smiling. "You have done so much for me and I just want you to know how grateful I am for everything. For giving me back my parents, and especially for being there for me through this whole mess. I never would have gotten through it without you. Even if I had figured out how to reverse the spell I don't think I could have gone through with it. You have given me the world and I just wish I had something I could give you in return."

Before he could say anything she reached forward again and gave him another hug. He let his arms come around her briefly this time but quickly let them drop when he felt her start to pull back. Without warning she stood on her tip toes and planted a kiss on his cheek. His eyes widened at the contact and his body stiffened. Hermione didn't notice, but gave his arm and squeeze and with a good night, skipped her way upstairs to get ready for bed.

Despite being exhausted, Severus lay awake in bed late into the night. She had kissed his cheek and he wanted to know why. Why on earth would she do such a thing? He had started to become accustomed to her touching him when they had been working on the potion to remove his dark mark. She had never once hesitated to take his wrist and look at it. He had never asked her why she did it, but she had. Since then other things would happen that would bring them into contact. Some things were small like him taking her arm to apparate somewhere, other things he was unsure of like her leaning on him. Now a kiss on the cheek was a whole new subject. He understood that it was something that was done between friends of the opposite sex, he just never though it would happen with him. Hell, having a friend of the opposite sex at this point in his life was already about as unexpected as it could get. He didn't know what to expect any more from the frizzy haired girl who was his roommate and friend. All he knew was that he was going to have to be careful, all the contact was starting to make him feel weird and the kiss was no exception. He lay there for nearly two hours before the feeling of her lips pressing to his cheek disappeared, finally allowing him to push it to the back of his mind and sleep.

Hermione spent the next few days in and out of the house. She spent the majority of her free time with her parents, sometimes not even coming back at night. At first Severus was thankful for her absence. The space allowed him time to clear his mind of the troublesome thoughts and feelings that her being so near all the time stirred up. He was able to get into his potion making and would get so involved at time that he didn't even notice how much time had passed. He walked out of the garage one night to find that once again there was no Hermione and no dinner sitting out to signal she had been by. He recalled a time not that long ago where this was his life, making potions and attending to dinner when he got around to it. That had been his summers up until the time he was summoned back into the life of a spy. For the last several years he had missed this, the being alone, no need to worry about anything or anyone. But now, now he found he was regretting this life. As he sat down to fix a meal of cold chicken and leftover rice, he came to the realization that he missed Hermione. He missed having her to cook and brew with. Missed her constant questioning as to why he changed the directions on a potion and he even missed the physical contact that always seemed to happen. This was something he had never felt before. With Lily there had been anger and then self-loathing as he had been the one to create the problem in the relationship. But with this there was just a sudden absence, with no other feeling to get in the way. He missed his friend and hated that she wasn't around anymore.

The next afternoon he was out delivering another crate of potions to the apothecary. The bouncy, cheerful man greeted him with a smile. "Ah, Mr. Snape another delivery I see. I was wondering if you have given anymore thought to getting your Master's in Potions approved for here. I would love to be able to sell your products with the proper labeling and have an increase in both our incomes."

He nodded to the man and fought back the urge to sneer at his ever present energy. It just didn't seem dignified for a shop owner and a master of herbology to bounce so much. "I have been thinking of it yes; I had to take care of some things for a friend, but I believe I am at a place to start putting through an application." As he said it he wondered if it was true. If this Ministry was thorough it could mean the end of his freedom, but them again was he really free if he spent the rest of his life hiding from Britain and not doing what he enjoyed. "I will contact the ministry soon and get the process started."

"Good, good, glad to hear it. I would start it as soon as possible. I know a fellow who put in his application and it took three months to get it approved. The sooner we can start marketing your potions at their proper grade, the better."

They finished the transaction and Severus stepped out of the shop back into a beautiful December day. Looking around he decided he would pop in on Hermione at work and see if she wanted to get some lunch. It had been days since he had seen much more than the back of her head as she came and went.

He walked into the small shop and was greeted by Julie, Hermione's coworker and supervisor. "Ah if it isn't Hermione's roomy, Mr. Snape was it?"

"Severus please, is Hermione here?"

"Hmmm, Severus it is," she purred at him leaning on the counter, "Yeah Hermione is here." She eyed him for another moment, causing him to shift from one foot from the other. For the second time Julie eyed Severus up and down. He was again wearing black pants and a black tee shirt. He was a thin man without being scrawny, tall and had what Julie labels 'a mysterious air'. He was a little more tanned then they last time he had been in, showing that he had kept some of the tan from the beach trip. His hair was long but pulled back today in a ponytail at the base of his neck which revealed some light scarring made more apparent due to the tan. He let out a huff and crossed his arms over his chest at her. She straightened up and gave him a smile and a wink and went into the back to get Hermione. He dropped his arms in shock at her blatant flirting and felt his cheeks go a little red. Hermione came out a moment later and gave him an inquisitive look, "Hey what's up? You look warm; I told you all that black would get to you in this heat."

He grumbled at her under his breath causing her to smirk back at him.

"I think I have been a bad influence on you witch."

She just shrugged it off, "So what's up?"

"I was wondering if you had eaten yet."

"Oh no, I haven't actually."

"I was in the area delivering some potions and thought you might not have eaten. I haven't eaten yet today either."

"Are you asking me to lunch?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, annoyed that she was trying to make him actually say yes. She smiled to hide the shock of Severus Snape actually seeking out her company. While he had proven himself above and beyond as a friend she had not expected him to go out of his way to see her. If anything she had figured he was enjoying his time alone after so long stuck in her company.

"Julie, is it okay if I go to lunch a little early?"

"No problem girl, have fun and see you in an hour."

"Thanks see you in an hour. Where would you like to go?"

Julie watched as Severus held the door open for her as they discussed several options for lunch. She could tell that Hermione continued to be unaware of the man she was living with. As far as Severus, he definitely seemed interested in Hermione but she was unsure on what level the interest lay. When she got back from work she was going to ask. She had been trying to subtlety get information out of her since the day at the beach, when she got back there would be no more kid gloves. Julie had to know if there was interest there, because if there wasn't Severus Snape had no idea what was coming.

They had an enjoyable lunch together at a little Italian place right outside of the entrance to Cockatiel Lane. He asked her how thing were going with her parents and was happy to hear her describe how well things were. She had been staying over because she and her mom had had a couple of all night movie marathons to make up for lost time. They had started discussing the adoption the night before. Her parents were unsure how to proceed with it or if they should at all. They were worried about the sudden change in name and how that would affect the process. Hermione had suggested setting up a meeting with the people in charge and explaining things by way of the fugue. She explained that once everything was explained and they were signed off on a clear bill of mental health by a real therapist that perhaps the adoption agency would still allow them to adopt the little girl.

Snape shook his head, "In all honesty using a mental illness as the sudden reason for a name change and the materialization of an adult daughter might not help their chances if they wanted the child still."

"That's the other problem, now that they have all the memories back of having a child that they are not sure they still want the baby. My mother is still complaining of empty nest syndrome and that it had been around basically since I went off to school. Going a year without a daughter just made it heighten to the point of work no longer filling the gap. I don't know what they are going to do, but I know if they still want a baby I don't mind. It may even be fun to have a little sister."

They ate in silence for a few minutes both stuck on the thought of what the elder Granger's could do to still get their child. Severus gave up and noticing that Hermione was lost in thoughts not exactly pleasing, changed the topic. "Hermione there is really nothing you can do about it either way. If they find a way to still get the child then wonderful for your family. However, if things fall through it is not the end of the world. The child's life will be no worse that if they had never filed the paperwork. Also, remember it was not a sure thing yet that they would even get the child. Do not blame yourself for an unknown child's fate. Now, have you had a chance to look at the last potions journal I left outside your room?"

Although Hermione could probably talk about her parents all day she was thankful for the change of topic. The adoption was something that had been weighing heavily on her mind since the day she had found out about it. And Severus was right, there was nothing she could do about it and her parents had already said they would not hold it against her if it were to fall through. They had their real daughter and all the memories of a life with her. Besides if she understood correctly the family that was currently fostering her was thinking of adopting and if they chose to do so they had top priority.

He continued to look at her waiting for her to pull out of her thoughts and answer.

"I'm sorry what did you ask?" she said finally.

"I had asked if you had a chance to read the last potions journal I left out for you."

"No sorry, I might take it with me tonight though when I go to my parents."

"I have actually been meaning to talk to you a bit about potions."

"Oh?" he said raising an eyebrow at her, "What about potions would you like to talk about?"

"Well I have been thinking about getting a degree in potions or maybe even pursuing an apprenticeship and lead up to becoming a master. I was wonder what advise you could have on it."

He was surprised to hear her express an interest in potions. He had always pegged her as a charms or transfiguration girl. As far as he could remember McGonagall had been boasting for years as to the talent of the girl and had a running bet with Flitwick as to whom she would end up apprenticing under.

As far as potions he had to admit she had potential and her more recent questions regarding why he didn't follow the directions and how each thing affected the potion were promising for her future in potions but she was still a long way off.

"I think that you are not ready."

She looked a little taken aback so he took pity on her and explained. "You have shown potential Hermione that was never anything contested by any of your professors."

"Except for you." She shot at him a slight look of hurt on her face.

He was hit with a random reminder that this young woman who he now counted as his friend was actually a student of his a year ago and should have been until last June.

"Hermione do you know why I was so hard on the students in my class. And because I was an ungodly prick is not an answer."

She couldn't help but laugh at his attempt at humor "I always assumed because if you weren't, Neville would have blown up the school."

Severus rolled his eyes at her mention his most useless student of perhaps all time. "While you are very correct at pointing a finger at Longbottom, it wasn't just him. Think about it, other than yourself, how many people in the class actually focused the entire time in my class? Even those who focused on the actual brewing were a danger because they more than likely didn't pay attention during the lecture or while doing the reading on what the ingredients could do. Teaching brewing to teenagers is not the safest thing to do in a crowded school. They are hormonal and self-important, never thinking beyond the tip of their noses. I was hard because otherwise people would get hurt. But there is more to potions than simply following the directions and getting a textbook potion. It is fine for passing your school exams but there is so much more to potions."

Hermione cocked her head to the side as she listened to him. He was so passionate on the subject, his voice a low rumble when discussing his profession. She recalled the speech he gave the first time she had heard him speak. It had captured her attention in a way that none of the other teacher's opening speeches had. There had been so much behind it, he had sounded passionate then too and the task of potion making had so much mystery around it, as had the dark professor who was to teach it to her. Without realizing it she was reciting the words. "The subtle science that is potion making."

"What was that?"

She looked away and fumbled with her hands embarrassed that she had let the far away memory overtake her. "It was what you said on the first day of class. It was all so different from what was expected of the other classes. I don't know why but those words struck me just now as you were talking."

"There is truth in them you know."

"I never figured you would have said it if there wasn't. Is that what it is then? What I am missing, subtlety?"

He contemplated her for a second before answering. "Subtlety, no I don't think that is it. What you are missing is the willingness to fail. That, Hermione, is your greatest weakness when it comes to potions."

She was bewildered, failure? That was the thing she was missing? "But… but I fail all the time?"

"Do you really, miss brightest witch of her age. How many times have you heard that in the past seven years?" She didn't answer him; they both knew the answer was insane. "Now tell me how many people have told you to try harder?"

"Um… well you." was her answer.

"Exactly, you have been good at everything you have done in the magical world. You can regurgitate countless facts, wand movements and incantations but in potions memorization means nothing. You have to feel out the potion and change as it changes. Find where you went wrong and adjust. Your many failures are what lead to your eventual success."

She thought this over for several moments while the waiter came and cleared their things. After they had paid for lunch, she spoke again. "I think I see what you mean. When I was trying to complete your potion that night I was so stressed I knew I didn't have much time and when I tried something and it didn't work I panicked. It took everything I had and honestly I only came upon the solution by accident. Even then I had no clue how to get the ingredient I needed and when I did I was terrified to use it. I knew from my readings that Phoenix tears were very difficult to use and could become volatile if used incorrectly. Once I added it I had nothing to go on and it was horrible I kept staring at your journal as if it would somehow magically complete the directions for me. As I stirred the potion I watched it change colors and consistencies and I had to guess at what I needed it to be. I just kept thinking of what I needed it to do in the end and what it had to fight against. It was all trial and error until I finally found a pattern to the process that seemed to calm the potion and help it to mature the way I wanted it to."

They had been walking back towards her work while she was talking and she hadn't taken her eyes off the pavement once. She finished just as they reached the wall. Severus looked down at the girl struggling to come to grips with that experience and take what she needed from it. Without thinking of what he was doing he reached out and lifted her chin until she was looking at him. "And that, my dear girl, is exactly why you have the potential to become a wonderful potions mistress." He removed his hand and she continued to hold his gaze. "You just need to tap into that, find the courage to feel like that every time you step near a cauldron. Stop reading the books and instead read the potion."

"Okay" was all she said in reply. He nodded at her knowing that she fully understood what he meant. Their eyes stayed locked in silence for a moment longer before Hermione turned away. She could feel her cheeks grow unexpectedly warm. Severus too became uncomfortable, thinking of the intimacy of the contact he had initiated. He hadn't meant to touch her like that he had only wanted to instill the confidence that she had seemed to be so badly lacking at the moment. Once again, things felt strange standing next to her.

"Well thank you for all of this." Hermione said awkwardly.

"If you would like some practice I would be willing to work with you on it."

"Really, I mean I would love to I just didn't think you would actually want to do that. I mean it has always been pretty apparent you don't like teaching."

"I don't hate teaching, I hate teaching idiots. There is a difference. Just let me know when you would like to start and I will set some things out for you."

"Ok sounds great, maybe we can do something this weekend? But I really have to get back to work now my hour has been up for about ten minutes now. I'll see you later." She reached out and gave his hand a squeeze before practically skipping her way back through the wall. Severus watched her walk away still feeling the pressure of her hand against his. He shook his head and balled up his fist to clear the feeling before going to find a place to apparate home from. He had a lesson plan to start, and one more excuse for not filing the paperwork to transfer his Master's to Australia.

**A/N: OK so it was another long one but at least it started with a bang… **


	20. Chapter 20

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

That evening Hermione told her parents that she was going to start studying potions again. They were both surprised at her decision.

"Honey, wasn't that your worst subject?" he father asked.

She rolled her eyes, "Worst was still rather high dad. The Professor just had high expectations."

"That's right, didn't you have problems with him, maybe that is all it was. Have you found someone else to study under who is a little less harsh here in Australia?"

"Well, yes and no." Hermione answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Yes, I found someone here in Australia, no, I doubt he will be any less harsh. But you really need a certain level of harshness in potions. It is really a dangerous subject and a mistake can have severe consequences."

"I'm sure darling but that man was downright cruel to you. I remember the letters you use to send home, telling us how he had humiliated you in front of the class or even refused to accept your work because you had helped a classmate."

"Or because it was too close to the book." Her father piped back in.

Hermione felt her spirits sink at her parent's words and suddenly wished she had been less descriptive in her letters home. They were not going to be happy to hear her roommate was in fact her old professor.

"Oh gosh what was his name anyhow? Septimus no, that wasn't it."

_Here we go_ she thought. "Severus, mom his name was Professor Severus Snape."

Her parents turned and looked at her horrified, "But darling isn't that…?"

"My roommate? Yes, one and the same."

"Hold the phone a second Hermione, you mean to tell me the man who made your life miserable at the school is the same person you are currently choosing to live with. There isn't anything going on I need to know about is there? Did he ever take advantage of you?"

Hermione's eyes went wide and her cheeks turned bright red. "Oh god Dad no, nothing like that. After the war after he was no longer my teacher we kind of became friends."

Her mother looked astonished. "How on earth did that come about?"

Hermione sighed, "Why don't we go sit down, this may take a while." Once they were all seated she started to tell them about the day the war had ended.

"On the final day of the war during the last part of the battle a lot happened. At one point Harry, Ron and I had snuck into the shrieking shack where Voldemort was holed up. While we were hiding in a secret passageway Professor Snape was called to him, I did tell you before that Professor Snape was a spy for our side right?" Her Parents nodded, "Okay well at this point in time we no longer thought that. He had done some things that made it all seem a lie, that he was really the bad guy. Well, Voldemort was angry that things were not going his way and he took it out on Severus. He… he sent his giant, evil snake to kill him. It was horrible; watching the snake attack the professor. Even with all we believed he had done I don't think any of us felt he deserved what he was getting. Afterwards, Voldemort left the shack, leaving him there to die on the floor. We snuck forward and he gave Harry a memory and then he died at least that is what we thought. We left him; Harry went to view the memories while Ron and I stood guard. We never saw Harry come out of the room as he was under his invisibility cloak so when we finally went to look for him he was gone. Ron and I went to join the battle hoping to find Harry. I won't go into any more detail about all that happened because I don't really want to think about it and honestly you don't want to hear it."

She paused for a second to gather he thoughts and push back the memories of the battle. Her parents were silent letting her compose herself. When she was ready she continued.

"After it was all done Harry told us what he had seen in the memory the professor had given him and we found out that he had been on our side all along. Even more, without the memories he had given to Harry I don't think I would have been here today. It was what let us win and end the war. After I found out I couldn't just leave his body lying in the shack with no one to mourn him. So I left the castle alone and returned to the shack, thinking I would retrieve his body so he could be buried like the hero he turned out to be. But when I got there he wasn't dead. None of us had checked for a pulse, we just walked away and assumed he was dead after the attack. I didn't know what to do, I started to move him to get him to the hospital wing but he woke up and asked me not to take him there. So I went to the only place I knew would be safe. I took him to our house, thankfully you two had kept it or I would have been in real trouble. It took me a while and a lot of thinking on my feet and using magic in ways not normally done but I managed to keep him alive and finish a new antidote for the snake poison to cure him."

Her mother reached out and took her hand tears filling her eyes at what her daughter had gone to and the lengths she had went to save this man's life. "So you saved him. Even with everything he had put you through, even though up until moments before hand you thought he was on the other side you still saved his life."

Hermione shrugged, "I had too. There had been so many people lost that day both friends and enemies that I couldn't let another person go if I had the power to stop it."

Her dad cleared his throat, "But what about your friends, Harry and Ron why didn't they help?"

"They don't know. No one else does."

"What do you mean honey? How could they not know?"

"Because Severus didn't want anyone to know he was alive. He asked me not to say anything to anyone and I never have, until now. He did horrible things in the war, things he had to do, things Dumbledore ordered him to do. Not everyone will forgive him, even if they were to see what Harry saw, there is a large possibility he could be sent to jail and wouldn't get out. So I have kept his secret and I plan on keeping it. No one knows him here and he is starting a new life that is untainted by his past and he deserves it. He gave up his life before for the British wizarding world, almost quite literally, and here none of it matters."

"Hermione what did he do that was so bad?"

"Nothing that I will share. I was able to forgive him for it and he had done so much for our family that I ask that you leave it at that. Don't ask him about it okay?"

Her parents while not sure of the man trusted their daughter's judgment and agreed not to bring it up.

"Honestly, I think that is part of the reason he came here with me in the first place. He wanted to get out of Britain before anyone saw him, that and because he felt he owed me something for helping him. I don't know when but at some point we became friends and as surprising as I know it must seem, I enjoy being around him."

She took a deep breath, "Which, bringing the subject back around, is why he is going to work with me so I can get an apprenticeship and maybe become a potions mistress myself."

Here her parents balked. "Oh honey, he may have become a good friend but he was always a terrible teacher. Are you sure you want to do that to yourself?"

"He really isn't all that bad now. We have actually worked on a project since being here and while not the most uplifting of teachers with his sarcastic comments he does know what he is doing and has a passion for his craft unlike anything I have ever seen. I know I can learn a lot from him and he actually even kind of gave me a compliment saying I might have the potential to make it. Coming from him that is a lot."

"Well if it's what you want then go for it." Her mother said.

"And when he is an ass we will be here for you to cry at." Her father added with a wry grin.

Hermione shook her head at her parents and looked at the time, "Gee thanks for the confidence booster you two. I should get going though I want to go home and crash tonight I have a feeling I have a heavy day at work tomorrow and it's already getting dark. I'm not sure what is going on with Julie, she was called away right when I returned to work and said I had better be 'ready to get into things when she came in in the morning'." She gave both her parents a hug goodbye and returned home.

**A/N: Ok here is one I'm going to go get another one ready so you will get two tonight**


	21. Chapter 21

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

Hermione arrived at work the next morning feeling elated. Severus had been up and about and they had discussed what he was going to have her start on that morning, sending her with a list of ingredients to gather from the apothecary that evening.

Julie caught on to her mood the second she saw her, "Hey, so it looks like you had a good night."

"A good morning actually. Severus and I had a long talk at lunch yesterday and we are going to start working on a potion this weekend."

Julie smiled, "I'm sure you are."

Hermione turned to look at her, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Oh you know what I'm talking about. You two going to brew a little love potion this weekend?"

"No way, that would be way too complicated at this point. He wants me to start with a boil remover."

Julie's expression changed to a look of repulsion. "Oh, you're talking about actually potions aren't you?"

"Of course I am. What else would I be talking about?"

Julie just gave her a knowing look.

"Oh god Julie, not you two!"

"What do you mean 'oh god' Hermione? Have you not seen the lovely piece of man you have chasing you around town? You can't honestly tell me you haven't even thought of Severus Snape as more than a roommate?"

"No, of course not. I have known him a long time; he was my professor for crying out loud."

Julie just grinned, "Even better, I can think of a few Profs that us girls in school would have loved to have fulfilled some fantasies with if given the chance."

"Oh for crying out loud Julie, be serious."

"I am Hermione and if you don't decide to start being serious yourself soon I just might make a move on that. Just think about it, that tall lean frame, that deep, smooth voice and those dark eyes. I would love to have the chance to just stare into those things."

Hermione threw a book at her coworker snapping her out of her revelry. "Is this what you said we had to 'get into' yesterday?"

Julie shrugged, "I'm just saying, you really need to start paying attention."

Hermione shook her head, "Can we get to work please?" with that she headed over to her desk and grabbed a work order to start researching.

About twenty minutes later Hermione noticed she had read the same paragraph twice. Her mind kept wandering back to the day before, standing in front of the wall when he lifted her chin up and held her gaze. Thinking back on it now she kept picturing how dark his eyes were, the irises were barely distinguishable from the pupils. And of his voice and how deep and passionate it got when talking about potions. She couldn't help but wonder if he ever sounded like that when he spoke of anything else.

She didn't hear Julie walk up behind her, "You're thinking about it now aren't you?" She said quickly, leaning over her shoulder.

Hermione jumped and felt a blush spread across her cheeks. "What uh no I'm er…"

Julie just smiled, feeling her point had been proven and walked away to start work on a clock that kept changing what time zone it was in.

Now that the seed was planted Hermione couldn't stop thinking about what Julie had said. _Oh just stop it Hermione, _she kept telling herself, _this is ridiculous. He is your friend, he was your teacher, he is going to be your teacher again, and he would never be interested anyway. Just be happy he is helping you and is willing to be your friend._

Finally the work day ended and Hermione rushed out of the shop, anxious to be away from her boss who kept smirking at her all day. She picked up the potions ingredients and quickly dropped them off at home before grabbing an overnight bag and heading to her parents. She needed to get her head on straight before the weekend and spending an evening with Severus wasn't going to help. She put everything on the kitchen counter and left a note letting him know she would be at her parents and would be back on Friday after work.

On Friday Hermione arrived home feeling much better than when she had left. Her head was clear and she was ready to spend the weekend learning. She came in to find Severus in the garage setting out the potions things she would need for the first potion. She was curious as to what he would do to teach her how to read the potions like he was able to.

"Hello, Severus." She greeted him.

He didn't look up at her greeting, "Are you wanting to start now or do you need to eat first. You will need to be fully focused if you are going to create this potion."

Ready to get down to business Hermione pulled a hairband off her wrist and twisted her hair up into a messy bun and moved to stand beside him.

"I had a late lunch. Where do we begin?"

"You are going to create a boil removal potion. It was something you learned in your first year so it isn't a terribly difficult potion. However, you will have no book to follow. If you want it to end correctly you will need to read the potion to find what to do and when. You did the readings I gave you on the different ingredients used in the potion?"

"Yes." She said.

"Then begin. And Hermione," She looked up from where she was starting to sort ingredients, "don't be afraid to fail."

She nodded and started. An hour later she was standing over a finished product with a smile on her face.

He walked over and inspected her work. With a flick of his wrist he vanished her potion. "Hey," she shouted at him, "That was perfect, why did you get rid of it?"

He shook his head at her. "Yes it was perfect, it was _textbook_." He put emphasis on the last word to catch her attention.

"Oh" was all she said.

"Did you memorize the recipe?"

"I can't help it."

"Do you have a photographic memory?"

She shook her head.

"Then you can help it. Don't do a single thing it says in that recipe unless you know it is the best thing for the potion. If I were to use the potion you just finished on a boil it would clear in 10 minutes. If you do the potion the best way, not described in the book, then it clears them in five. Figure out how to make that potion. Take a break and come back in thirty minutes and try again."

She went into the kitchen and fixed herself some tea and toast. She was working hard to not be angry with herself for failing. It was strange to know she had done something how it was supposed to be done, down to the last detail and be told that it was not good enough.

She thought back over the recipe and attempted to erase the instructions from her mind. She needed to go back to how she felt when she made the anti-venom minus the stress of a life hanging on the results. When she had been brewing that she hadn't thought of anything but the substance in front of her.

Thirty minutes later, as told, she walked back into the garage. Without saying a word she walked back up the cauldron and started again. She thought over each ingredient before adding it.

If the directions she knew from the book matched with what she knew to be the best use of the ingredient then she did it. A few times she found herself hesitating, finding the directions not quite matching with the ingredient. About half way through the potion turned a dark brown color and was ruined. She took a deep, calming breath knowing that Severus was watching and fought back frustration. She forced herself to instead take note of what she had been doing when it changed and thought of how to correct it when she got to that point.

It took her three more attempts before she was able to get the potion through to the end.

Severus came over and looked over her work. She waited for the vanishing but instead he grabbed a vial took a sample and dated it. "It is passable. While not where it needs to be it is acceptable for today. Now that you know what to do to get to the end, tomorrow you will tweak the process until it is truly perfect. For now I suggest sleep and time away from potions."

She silently cleaned up her mess and went upstairs. She was exhausted and fell into bed fully clothed. Tomorrow she would have to do it all over again but for not she would just sleep.

By Sunday evening she had finally figured out the boil potion and could create the desired result each time. The thing she noticed the most about brewing this way was the process was not the same a single time she did it. She was constantly changing the timing on adding ingredients or the number of stirs due to the difference in the ingredients quality each time.

She had a hard time working on this one and the following weekend Severus was going to give her a more difficult potion, starting with a pile of reading to do until then. She decided to forgo the studying for the evening and spend it instead with her parents.

Before heading out she stopped at the garage a last time, "Severus would you care to join me for dinner at my parents? I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you tagged along."

"No that is fine. I am sure after a weekend working in here with me you would like some time alone with your parents. I don't want to intrude, you go on."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded and she left him to himself, figuring he wanted to be alone after the long teaching session.

"Ok well how about Christmas then? It is coming up soon and I talked to my parents already and we would all love it if you came to join us for dinner."

He gave her a disbelieving look. "As much as I appreciate the offer, I'm not the most Christmassy of people, in case you haven't noticed."

"We are not super religious so you don't have to worry about that. We are just planning a quiet dinner and conversation. Nothing to pressing or Christmassy, as you put it. I would hate to see you here alone for Christmas. Please come, besides it would give my parents a chance to meet you properly and not as the scary potions professor or creepy guy who tied them up in there house." This last was said with a small laugh as Hermione attempted to keep the mood light.

He stared at her for a moment before answering, "I will consider it."

During the week she spent her free time reading as much as she could, trying to learn everything about the varying potions ingredients she would be working with. Severus also spent his weeks going over the potions task. He had never thought to train someone like he was with Hermione. In addition to his own potions tasks, he would take time each week to go over the samples he would collect from her finished works and tear them apart going over her methods and writing down what could be done better to go over with her before they started on a new potion. She was a fast learner and while he would never tell her this, he was amazed at how well she did once you tore away the books. She really did have a bright head on her shoulders and was becoming attuned to the workings of her potions after relatively few failures. He was also noticing that each failure was starting to affect her less and less. She was learning to take it in stride and use it instead as a tool to learn from.

Christmas day arrived and Hermione happy left to spend the whole of it with her parents after finally getting Severus to agree to show up in the afternoon.

He arrived four o'clock and was greeted at the door by a smiling Hermione. "Happy Christmas! Come on in."

He followed her into the sitting room where he was offered a drink. He accepted, feeling it would give him something to focus on other than the social situation he found himself in. After some stilted conversation, Mrs. Granger asked Hermione to come help her in the kitchen for a moment leaving the men alone.

Severus attempted to break the silence, "So Mr. Granger, how is the dental practice going?"

"I have actually taken a break from my practice for now. It was easier than trying to explain to my patients that I am actually a different person. I may start over with a new office and work for someone else so that I don't have to worry about my old patients coming to me thinking I am a new dentist in town."

"I can see where that would present a problem."

"Yes, it has been a little difficult but I am happy to have my family back how it was meant to be. Elizabeth and I are also talking about just moving back to England as we do still have the house there; but we are undecided at this time. It honestly depends on Hermione at the moment. We want to stay near her and she doesn't seem to be in any hurry to return home. We figure she will start to miss her school friends but she needs this time to heal from whatever it was she went through last year. Besides, now that she is 18, who knows what she may plan to do. What about you Severus, how are things in the potions world down under?"

"I have something set up currently with a local shop but I can't do much until I have my potions mastery approved here."

Conversation halted with work being exhausted and both men looked around the room, one in search of conversation topics the other as a way to hide his dislike of such social situations.

The women soon returned and conversation picked back up as the Grangers asked about the brewing lesson from the weekend. Hermione talked hesitantly about what they had done over the weekend and what she was reading on for the following session. Severus added a few points about how she had done without giving any actual praise or critique on her work, which surprised everyone in the room.

When dinner was almost ready Hermione was asked to set the table and Severus offered to help her. They moved into the dining room where Hermione pointed out where to find the place mats and napkins while she levitated plates and silverware into the room. They chatted quietly while they set things out with flicks of their wands.

Her parents moved to watch them from the doorway. Her father surveyed them critically before addressing his wife. "You don't think there is anything going on between them do you? He asked.

She cocked her head and watched as her daughter and Severus move around each other getting things set out without missing a beat in their conversation. "I don't think so. He does seem much more relaxed around her than anywhere else, but I don't think anything is happening. He is much older than her; I don't believe Hermione would go there with someone almost our age. They are just friends and both are recovering from something neither of us understands."

Her husband stared at them a moment longer before moving to help his wife get dinner from the kitchen. While he agreed that nothing was happening now that didn't stop him from worrying. Severus may be older but he looked at Hermione in a way he didn't quite comprehend. Maybe his wife was right and it was just that they had been through a difficult time and were relying on each other to heal. For now though, he would continue to monitor the situation.

After dinner, Hermione and her parents exchanged gifts. Severus sat back and watched as Hermione handed out gifts to her parents and was shocked when she placed a small wrapped box in his hand as well.

"What is this?" he asked her.

"It's a present, now open it."

He looked down and the box then back at her. "I didn't get you anything."

"I know but you didn't have to." She moved and sat next to her parents, smiling first at them then back at him. "You gave me my parents back Severus, that is bigger than anything I could ever get you, so open it."

He slowly opened the package to find a pocket watch. He looked back up at her

"It has a timer set in it so that you will remember to take breaks from brewing. A customer brought it in last week saying it didn't work and that if we could fix it he wanted to sell it on consignment. I noticed that you hadn't been eating really since I've been here and not home to remind you to leave the garage, so I got it for you."

He turned it over in his hands examining it. "Thank you Hermione."

He stayed for almost another two hours before he stood saying that he needed to leave. Hermione stood to follow him. "Wait for just one second and I will come with you." She bid her parents a final Merry Christmas before walking with him out the door chatting about the ingredients they would need to order from the apothecary on their way out.

**A/N: Okay, I have a question. I have the weekend off and was wondering if people like the slower posting of a couple chapters at a time or would people like to me pound out the rest of the story. It is finished and the editing doesn't take long so I could get it out in the next few days, it's up to you. Let me know either through the review box or just PM me. **


	22. Chapter 22

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

**A/N: So the consensus seems to be that people would like me to not drag it out. So while I will not be rushing the editing process I will start putting chapters out faster. Instead of the normal two at a time I am hoping to do around four.**

They worked on one potion a week for five weeks successfully before Hermione hit a fourth year potion that she was unable to master in the three days. Unable to leave a project unfinished she came home every day after work and went straight to the garage to work on it. By Wednesday her frustration was getting difficult to keep at bay and even Julie noticed that she was tense.

"Is everything going all right Hermione you seem a little off?" She said watching as her researcher spent yet another lunch with her face buried in a book on herbs.

"Oh it's just this potion Severus has me working on the week. I can't figure it out. I have brewed it at least thirty times since Friday and I have yet to get it right. It is starting to get so frustrating. I just don't know what to do."

"You know what I do when I get frustrated like that? Find a way to clear my head. Think of anything but the task I am stuck on, maybe a little exercise to release endorphins. In fact, I can think of a great person for you to release those endorphins with."

"Julie you are not still going on about that. He is my friend and teacher and you are crazy."

"Well I told you I would give you some time and then I was going to jump on that train."

"Really I don't want to know Julie, just… no."

"Suit yourself."

Hermione spent the remainder of the work day avoiding conversation with Julie. Late in the afternoon they were presented with a difficult project. A young woman came in with a self-heating teapot that rather than pouring its contents into the cup attempted to scold the closest person. Apparently it was a wedding gift from her mother-in-law who was scheduled for a visit that weekend and the woman needed it working.

Hermione dove into the research Julie would need to get it working properly in the next two days and didn't hear the bell ring signaling someone else entering.

"Hey Julie, do you think it could be a problem with the actual item or a temperamental thing with the spell itself?" she asked several minutes later. When she didn't get an answer she looked up to see that Julie wasn't in the room. She could hear her talking in the front. As she made her way out to talk to her she could hear what Julie was saying.

"So anyways I know of this great diner across town. We should really go get some coffee some time."

She rolled her eyes as she walked out; leave it to Julie to flirt with a customer. She stopped in her tracks when she found Julie leaning over the counter smiling at an unsure Severus. "Oh uh, Severus what are you doing here?"

He took a step sideways away from Julie and cleared his throat. "I stopped to get some more supplies from the apothecary and since it was so late thought I would wait for you to get off work."

"Ok well I have another 30 minutes before I'm finished. You are welcome to hang out if you want." She cast a reproachful look at Julie as she said this, unsure if it was a wise decision for him to stick around.

"Of course," she chimed in, "in fact you are welcome to come wait in the back if you want. See what we really do around here."

Severus looked between the two women for a moment one smiling at him the other warily watching her coworker. "That's ok I will wait in the book store. Hermione come find me when you are finished here."

She nodded and Julie gave him a little wave. "See you later." She said in a sing song voice. Hermione gave Julie a look that suggested she was crazy.

"Do you have a screw loose or something? You were serious just flirting with Severus Snape."

"Well one of us has to, and what can I say, I like the whole dark and mysterious vibe he puts off. But I must say he gets much more animated when you are in the room. I barely got a word out of him in the last 5 minutes."

"Once again, NO! I have work to do and so do you, so can we focus on that instead please."

They went back to work and Hermione tried to ignore the glances Julie kept giving her.

When it was closing time Hermione practically ran out of the store for the book shop to get away from Julie. She found Severus engrossed a book in the back corner of the shop. "Hey, are you ready to go?"

"One moment, I think I will purchase this one really quick. It has some interesting ideas on the different uses for boomslang skins in medicines."

She waited outside while he paid for his book, trying to ready herself for the potions lesson when they returned. Severus came out to find her lost in thought leaning against the side of the building. She had her eyes shut and was obviously trying to envision the brewing process as her hands were moving as if she were stirring and she was muttering under her breath. He smirked at her.

"Barely off work and you are already focused on that potion."

She dropped her hands and opened her eyes. "This one is difficult and I am determined to find my mistake. I just can't figure it out for anything."

When they returned home Hermione quickly went upstairs to shed her things and came back down tying back her hair. She set out all her things and started prepping the start of the potion and double checking one of her herbology books on the best way to prepare flobberworms to get the highest yield in its effects.

Severus came in several minutes later and sat in the corner with his new book. Hermione didn't even look up but stayed engrossed in the brewing process. She had two more potions fail on her in the next two hours. Feeling overwhelmed she threw her stirring rod across the room, cursing the potion every way she knew how. Severus looked up from his book, "Hermione control, look at where the potion is failing and look for you inconsistencies."

She turned and glared at him. "I know, I have been. Maybe if I knew what I was even looking for I could complete this. You know you could offer a suggestion at lease. I'm dying here, while I know there is a lesson in failure being worked on I think I deserve a bit of a break on it."

He merely started her down, surprised to hear her speak to him so forcefully. She huffed and turned back to the potion, vanishing the contents, summoning her stirring rod and restarted.

She set out all her ingredients loudly giving vent to her frustration. Severus just continued to watch her without speaking. She did her best to ignore him as anything else just increased her anger.

She started to calm again once she got back into the actual brewing, putting her full concentration on how the potion was reacting to her administrations. When she was about to reach the point things had kept going south Severus moved over to stand next to her. He watched as she slowly added the tubers stopping after every few pieces to give the potion a counter clockwise stir. After she finished adding them she stopped to watch.

"Don't stop stirring yet. Keep the rod moving so you can feel the potion respond."

She turned and gave him a questioning look. In one fluid movement he was standing directly behind her. He reached around and placed his hand over her hand holding the stirring rod. She froze at his touch and he took over the movements. He began slowly moving their hands around counter clock wise.

"You need to feel the potion. Feel how the consistency changes as the ingredients dissolve and affect the potion."

Hermione felt heat rise in her face that had nothing to do with her frustration or the heat coming off the cauldron.

Everything Julie had said to her and the feelings it had stirred up all those weeks ago before they started brewing came flooding back. She could feel him up against her, smell the scent of his soap and aftershave, and was all too aware of his hand guiding hers. Feeling the potion was not happening. She swallowed hard and put all her focus on the dark red liquid.

He had felt her go rigid when he had taken her hand. He had fought the urge to pull back. She had never seemed to have a problem touching him, so he hadn't even thought before reaching out for her. Briefly he had the image of standing in front of the wall his hand lifting her chin up so she was facing him. He repressed the thoughts and told her to focus on feeling the potion change. After a moment he heard her exhale and felt her body relax and allowed him to more easily guide her hand.

As staring at the potion wasn't helping she tried closing her eyes. Maybe the problem was she was looking too hard for the change. He said she needed to feel it and having her eyes open just kept leaving her distracted by the sight of his hand over hers. With her eyes closed she was batter able to visualize the potion, focusing her thoughts beyond her hand. After a moment she smiled, she could feel the potion begin to thicken as they stirred. She started moving with him following the currents of the potion. Soon she felt that it had reached the point of being as thick as she wanted it.

She automatically changed directions and reached out with her other hand to add the next ingredient. Severus released her hand but stayed close in case she needed help. He watched as she slowly poured in the essence of mint keeping her eyes closed the whole time. She continued to slowly move the stirring rod around until the mint was fully added. Then opening her eyes she removed the rod and lowered the heat under her cauldron to let it simmer for the last step. Severus took a couple steps back and she turned to face him.

"I did it. That was amazing; it was as if the potion was actually telling me what to do next. I could feel every change in it."

"Exactly." was all he said. She gave him a huge smile and he found he was actually returning it fully.

She felt a shiver run down her spine and the feeling of him being so close that had been briefly suppressed came rushing back.

"Are you okay?" He asked seeing her slight shiver.

She turned away quickly, checking on the potion by way of covering the embarrassment of him noticing.

"Yes, I'm just still a little amazed as to the feeling that gave me." She said speaking of both his touch and the potion.

"You did well, now that you have found that hopefully you can find it again in the future with less difficulty."

She bit her bottom lip trying to block out the connotation her brain was suggesting, knowing that he only meant it in regard to the potion.

They sat in silence as the potion finished and she bottled up a sample before clearing her mess and heading into the house with her jumbled thoughts.

She was going to shoot Julie in the morning.


	23. Chapter 23

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

Severus stayed in the garage, reflexively clenching and releasing his fist trying to get rid of the feeling left behind after he had removed his hand from hers.

He wasn't sure why the feeling was lingering but perhaps he would have to avoid such teaching practices in the future. The problem with that was she had responded so well with him physically guiding her. What he had been trying to get her to understand for weeks had finally clicked. He wasn't use to actually seeing a student have such a moment, and it was uplifting to see her go from anger to euphoria over it. Hopefully, she would be able to hold onto what she had learned and he would be required to guide her again.

Now that she understood a new way of brewing, Hermione noticed that the next few potions went much easier. She was elated over her progress and it started to show through the shield she tried to keep up around Julie since her last conversation about potions with Severus.

Hermione was humming as she researched the following week and Julie commented. "Ok what has you in such a good mood the past few days? You have been practically skipping around the shop. I know you enjoy research but I doubt even you are this interested in a simple radio."

"It's the potions we are working on. I think I am finally getting it. I learned to finally read the potions; I'm no longer looking in the books. I'm still trying to memorize the million different ways to prepare all the many ingredients but even that is starting to come easier as I go."

"That's it? The potions thing. There is nothing else going on to make you so happy?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned away before she gave anything away about her ever changing thoughts about her roommate.

Things continued to confuse her. Most of the time everything was as it had been for the past 6 plus months they had been living together, but then something would happen. He would come lean over her shoulder to see how she was doing, or they would unexpectedly touch, that would cause the feelings to resurface.

She had been debating talking to her mother about it soon but was worried about where that conversation could lead. He was almost as old as her parents and while they were accepting of him because of what he had done for the family, this she didn't think they would over look.

Now that she was making so much progress on her potions, Severus had started working on his own projects while she did her brewing. They started to get into a comfortable pattern reminiscent of when they had been working on the salve to remove his mark. He was unaware of what she was going through when they got too close. For him all her noticed was that she would suddenly stiffen for a moment. He didn't know what to make of it other than that she was no longer comfortable with him in close quarters.

The more he worked to keep his distance though the more he found himself watching her. She had started wearing muggle headphones while she brewed. He watched as when the potions started to get difficult, she would close her eyes as she had that first day. Soon she would be swaying to her music while she worked, almost as if the music helped her to connect to the mixture in front of her in a way her eyes couldn't. He found it mesmerizing and frightening at the same time.

That weekend she invited him to her parent's house for dinner the first time since Christmas.

"You know Hermione that you can have them here if you would like?"

"Well I didn't want them to disturb you if you weren't up for company. "

"I have no problem with your parents and I am sure that they would like to see where you live. If they are willing you could have them over this weekend. Otherwise, I would be willing to have dinner at their house again if you would like."

Hermione flashed him a huge grin at his offer. Her mother had been hinting for a while now that she wanted to see where she was living and Hermione had deflected every time, unsure about how Severus would feel to her inviting her parents over.

Her parents accepted the offer of dinner at her house for Sunday. Hermione and Severus chose to forgo any brewing that day so as to clean up the house, get it ready for guest and to prepare dinner. When the doorbell sounded Hermione bounded out of the kitchen to answer it. Severus stayed in the kitchen where he was stirring a pan of graving and watching her boiling potatoes. She directed her parents to the small living room and excused herself to check on things in the kitchen. He quickly shooed her out saying he could handle the last few steps of preparation so she could go entertain her parents. She gathered some drinks for her parents and went back out to sit with them. Once everything was about ready, she led her parents in and directed them to dish out what they wanted as their dining room table was not big enough to accommodate all four of them and set out the food. Severus greeted the Grangers and passed out plates.

Elizabeth Granger smiled at him, "Severus did you cook the dinner?"

"I finished it." He said.

Hermione shook her head, "And did an equal share of the rest of the cooking."

Thomas Granger remembered his objective set at Christmas to watch the two roommate's interactions carefully. He had been happy to accept the invitation to his daughter's house so that he could see them in a setting where they would both be most comfortable. What he saw was disconcerting. All through dinner Severus' attention was focused on his daughter except when expressly pulled away in conversation. After dinner was finished Hermione and her mother cleared the dishes while the men were dismissed to the living room. He watched as Severus stared at his daughter intently while she got up and started to remove the dishes.

Once the men were settled in the living room with a glass of brandy, Thomas cleared his throat intending to address the topic of Hermione with Severus. He opened his mouth when Severus looked over at him and changed his mind. He would wait and talk to his wife first. While Hermione seemed to smile at lot at this man he didn't want to add fuel to a fire that may not even be lit. Instead, he asked after Severus' potions and if he had yet gotten himself approved by the Australian wizarding government.

Severus easily hid him shock that the man sitting across from him would remember something said in a conversation over a month ago. "I have yet to apply. I have been busy helping Hermione but now that she is almost ready to seek out someone to apprentice under I may apply soon."

"Once you are approved then wouldn't she be able to apprentice under you?"

"In theory, she could if she so chose."

Thomas cocked his head to the side in the same way Hermione always did right before she was about to question something he said, "In theory? Do you not think you would take her on?"

Severus stared the man down reminding himself that this was his roommate's father and to keep his tongue in check. "I did not mean it to sound that way, I simply meant that I am not her only option. She may choose to apprentice under who ever she likes and I may not be in the same area as she is. As you said before, you don't know how long she will want to stay here and I am not sure I wish to return to England."

The two men silently sipped on their brandy and the ladies soon joined them. Severus watched the family dynamic with interest. Hermione's family was nothing like what he was accustomed too; the playful banter and free smiles that they shared between themselves and occasionally with him. He tried to relax and enjoy himself but he felt an uncertainty he was not used to creep up. He was worried that he didn't know how to interact with them in the way that they all interacted or that he would do something to offend them.

Her family stayed until the late evening, chatting and sharing old family stories. Many of the stories Severus would catch onto quickly as he had seen them all when restoring her parents memories. He was looking at the smiling and blushing Hermione as they recalled happy and occasionally times from when she was little, and trying to blend them in with the woman he saw in front of him. This time it was her mother who noticed the intense stare Severus held on her daughter, as well as the deep blush that was covering her cheeks whenever she looked at the older man. As much as she had deterred her husband from the idea that something was going on between these two, seeing them together in the house they shared made her second guess everything.

That night on the drive home she addressed the subject with her husband. "Was it just me or was there a lot of _staring_ going on tonight?"

Thomas laughed out loud at his wife's way of bringing up the topic he also wanted to discuss. "Yes I must say there was a lot of that going on tonight. So do you still believe that are just friends who are merely helping each other to heal after the wizarding war?"

"I don't know. He sure seems to watch her a lot though. I don't think I could handle being watched with the intensity that he watches her with, she doesn't even seem to notice. But she definitely cared what he thought about her. I don't think I have ever seen our Hermione as red for as long as she was tonight nor seen her smile at someone so much. Was something said tonight that makes you think he has more in mind then just staring?"

He shook his head. "No actually, quite the opposite. He seems to think that she will not be in Australia for much longer and he isn't planning on leaving. He may not even be aware of the way he looks at her. He is just so much older than her though so I don't even know how I would have a conversation about her with him. I was going to bring it up tonight and realized I have no clue what to say. I mean, you plan these things for scaring off teenage boys not for men nearly your own age."

"I know I keep thinking the same thing. But then I remember some of the people Hermione use to talk about at school and magical people seem to live a very long time. Maybe the age difference isn't as big as it seems to us?" This last was said with more of a questioning tone to her voice, looking for an answer.

This gave them both something to think about. Sooner or later though they both new one of them would have to bring it up to the two if things kept progressing as they had over the last month and a half.


	24. Chapter 24

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

**A/N: Ok so this is a very tiny but important chapter. I kept trying to merge it with either the last or the next but it really needs to stand on its own. **

Over the next couple of weeks Severus threw harder and harder potions at Hermione. She continued to master them with relatively few failures and was becoming comfortable experimenting with the ingredients amounts. When she was brewing an Essence of Dittany potion, he found her changing the order in which she added the ingredients and he knew that she was ready for a true apprenticeship. She no longer needed him standing over her, checking her every move or walking her through the reasons for deviating from the book. Having had run out of excuses to delay putting in his application for his mastership in Australia, he finally made the trip to the ministry building one morning after Hermione had went to work.

It was a simple task to go in, get the application, and fill it out. The difficult part was actually handing it in, knowing that it was going to be reviewed and possibly be sent to Britain to be verified. He was unsure what would happen if the British ministry found out he was in fact not dead. All he knew was there was a very real possibility that he would be extradited because of the steps the country had taken to keep member of Voldemort's ranks from coming here.

There would be so many things that could go wrong what with him finding a way to get rid of his mark and everything he had done before. No matter what was said he was pretty sure he wouldn't get away with killing the greatest wizard of all time. He knew from the letters Hermione received from Harry that things were still hard in Britain. People were working on rebuilding their lives, Hogwarts and the Ministry. What he didn't know is if his name was ever brought up. Hermione had wanted to ask Harry but Severus had said no. He didn't want his name brought up and preferred if he could just be forgotten over there. Eventually, however, he feared his crimes would catch up to him. There was also the problem of what would happen if he was put anywhere near any remaining deatheaters.

He stared at the person behind the desk for several minutes with a death grip on the paper in his hand before a sarcastic voice broke through the silence, "Are you actually going to turn those in or just stand there all day because I would like to go to lunch at some point today."

Severus gave the man a withering look and practically threw them at him then turned and stalked out of the building. Whatever was going to happen he would face it, just as he had for the last 18 years.

Hermione picked up on Severus' nervous mood over the next few days. She finally brought it up after he drew his wand on her when she walked quietly in to the garage.

"Severus, what is going on with you? You are so jumpy lately."

He lowered his wand and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry if I frightened you. I have been a bit on edge I suppose."

"A bit? You just drew your wand on me as if you were expecting to be attacked or something."

He figured he might as well tell her, she should know any ways as she could have to move if they came for him. "I sent in my application to have my potions mastery approved for here."

He saw as panic filled her face and she stepped closer to him. "But…but what if they send it to Britain? What if they find out you're alive?" Her voice rose in volume and octave as she spoke.

"Hermione, I can't hide from who I am forever, and I can't stop living because of what I did in the past. Yes there is a possibility that this could go badly, or it may be overlooked and I could be approved, letting me have the ability to make a living here."

Hermione started to breathe heavily as she searched for some sign in his face for the worry she was feeling. He kept his face impassive taking in her emotions as they all passed over her face. Confused by the turmoil of feeling coursing through her she turned fully prepared to flee form the garage.

She was stopped by Severus' voice saying her name softly. All the fear and emotion she had looked for in his face came out there in the simple act of him saying her name. She turned back to face him knowing that she couldn't run, he was her friend and even though he would never admit it he needed her. It was her turn to support him.

Without thinking she reached out and took his hand, trying to express without words that she would be there for him. They stood there hands linked both thinking of what this could mean and worrying for the future. They eventually stepped apart still not saying a word. Severus moved back to his potion and Hermione stepped up next to him to help him work. Neither of them spoke for the rest of the evening. They worked in companionable silence, lost in the uncertain thoughts wrapped around the person who they were standing next to.


	25. Chapter 25

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

Over the course of the next month Hermione and Severus' relationship started to change. Even though they had never spent a lot of time in conversation their evenings together became quieter, sometimes going whole days without saying a word to each other. They would work together side by side; Hermione would occasionally reach out and link her hand with his. He was taken aback at first when she did this but soon became grateful for the comforting gesture as she nearly always did it when his thought started to go in the direction of his application.

The summer that had come early seemed to decide it was going to end early as well and March saw the weather taking a turn for fall.

Hermione was looking out the kitchen window admiring the late summer sun as it hit the changing leaves of the tree in their neighbor's yard when she thought she heard a noise out front. She got up to go look for the source of the sound. Severus came out of the garage and into the kitchen as she made her way into the front hall. Just as she reached for the handle, the door was blasted open and Hermione went rigid and fell against the wall as a wizard burst in and cast a body bind curse on her. Severus ran into the hall, his wand drawn to find two wizards returning the gesture.

The one in front spoke first, "Master Snape, I suggest that you put down your wand and come with us." He said in a commanding tone.

Severus moved his wand to point it at the speakers head. "I know why you are here and I will lower my wand as soon as you release my roommate. She has nothing to do with anything going on here." He growled back at the man.

The first man nodded to the man behind him who searched Hermione quickly, removed her wand then the curse holding her in place. She slumped against the wall and looked at the men all still pointing wands at each other. Seeing she was free, Severus lowered his wand. The first man spoke again. "Toss it over here now. No deatheater will keep their wand on my watch."

Severus stiffened and reflexively tightened his grip on his wand before tossing it at the other man's feet.

They men ran forward and grabbed a hold of him. Seeing Severus grabbed roughly and shoved against the wall made Hermione spring into action.

"Wait, what are you doing? Let him go." she yelled. Not having her wand there was little she could do other than run forward and pull at the men, trying to get them off Severus. They wiggled free of her grasp and she pressed forward again furious at what they were doing.

"Hermione!" Severus called out to her. "Stop, it is okay."

The man in charge looked at Severus then back at Hermione, "I suggest you stop as well or I _will_ take you in."

She stopped and stared at Severus, wondering how any of this could be okay. They men placed what looked to be a type of hand cuff on him and started to lead him towards the door.

Right before they got to the door Hermione stopped them. "Wait, please."

They stopped and Severus looked back at her. Before they had a chance to stop her, Hermione ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck.

She held on to him hard not wanting to let go. His hands bound together he was unable to put his arms around her as he wanted, as he felt was needed by the way she was gripping onto the back of his shirt. At first the men were surprised by her action but now they recovered and were attempting to pull her away. They were having a hard time moving her because on the grip she had on him. Suddenly, she let go and put her hands on the side of his face. She stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his. His eyes widened at first shocked by what she was doing before he relaxed against her leaning forward. All the confusion and suppression he had been going through for the last few months melted away leaving only her. He had been worried about what would happen to her if he was taken away and for the first time he realized it wasn't because she was his friend or even because she was still his student. It was because he wanted to be near her.

Hermione was going through a similar situation. She had been fighting her rising feelings for a while. Her coworker had made sure to bring it up at every passing moment, barely ever letting her mention Severus without questioning the meaning behind it. Now watching him being taken away she no longer cared about all the reasons she couldn't feel the way she did. Now she would give anything to make him be able to stay. She knew she didn't have the time to tell her what she was thinking so she showed him. They finally broke apart when the ministry official pulled her away.

She was tossed backwards roughly, the men not appreciative of what was going on. She fought back tears as she was torn away, not sure what was going to happen now.

"You may pick up your wand tomorrow morning at the department of Magical Law Enforcement." she was told before they apparated away.

Hermione fell to the floor unable to take her eyes off the place Severus had been just moments ago. She sat there with her mind in a jumble for several moments before dragging herself from the floor. Not having a wand she was unable to apparate anywhere. Not sure where else she could go, but knowing she had to get out of the house, she made her way out the door, walking towards her parent's house. She reached their neighborhood two hours later. She stumbled her way up to the door and knocked loudly. Her father came down and opened the door a crack peering out at her. "Hermione, is that you?"

Once she saw her father she started to cry again, reaching out for the side of the house as she was about to collapse again. He rushed out and grabbed hold of his daughter keeping her from hitting the ground. "Hermione what is wrong? What happened?"

Unable to speak, she allowed her father to lead her inside where he sat her down and called for her mother.

Elizabeth Granger came running at her husband's frantic call. "Thomas, what is going on? I'm getting ready for bed."

All thought of going to bed was banished at the sight of her daughter clinging to her dad crying uncontrollably. She ran over and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Oh sweetheart, what is going on?"

Amid her sobs Hermione finally managed to speak, "They took him," she sobbed, "they took him away."

Elizabeth exchanged a glance with her husband. This couldn't be good. "What do you mean dear?"

"The ministry, they came and they took Severus."

"What?!" her father exclaimed, "Why would they do that?"

"He put in his application for his mastership and they found out who he is and they arrested him."

Everything their daughter had told them about the ex-potions professor came flooding back. He was a spy, he had committed several crimes during the war, and that he wanted the British wizarding community to think he was dead. Whatever he had done it must have been much worse than Hermione had let on.

"Hermione," Her father started, "Why would they come for Severus? What are you not telling us?"

Hermione looked back and forth between her parents knowing she could no longer hide the truth of Severus' crimes. "He… he killed Dumbledore." She said hiccupping through her tears.

"He WHAT?!" her father yelled.

Hermione jumped up and glared at her father her grief at once being replaced by anger at her father's reaction. "I told you he did things he didn't want to. Don't you dare hold this against him. He doesn't deserve this. He saved us all, you included, don't you dare condemn him too."

Her mother pulled her back down to the couch they had been sitting on. 'Hermione don't yell at you father. This is a lot to take in. You come in her a wreck, saying he was taken away by the wizarding ministry and tell us he killed the headmaster of the school. That is a lot to take in. You said he committed crimes. You never said he committed murder. We let him into our house and you live with him knowing this. How can you do that Hermione?"

Hermione sank back into the cushions. "Because I love him." she said her voice a whisper.

Her mother's jaw dropped and her father's eyes went wide. Neither of them had gotten the courage to ask about her feelings for her professor. They more they discussed it, the more the thought they would only escalate things if they brought it up. They last few times they had seen them together nothing seemed to any further developed, so hearing their daughter profess that she was in love was shocking to say the least.

"Hermione, how?" was all her mother could get out.

She was taken aback by her mother's question. In all honesty she wasn't she herself. She just knew that she wanted him near. "I… I'm not sure. It just kind of happened. I don't think I was even sure of how I felt until tonight. I just feel like a part of me was taken away. What do I do? How do I stop all this and get him back?"

Her mother considered her words for a moment before speaking. "I don't know honey. I don't fully know what is going on. Is there anything you or Harry can do?"

She hadn't thought of Harry. While she had kept the secret of Severus being alive carefully she knew at this point her friend would find out soon if he hadn't already heard.

"I have to get back to Europe. I have to do something."

Her mother thought of the cost of getting a last minute plane ticket and doubted if Hermione could afford such a thing. "Dear, even if there is a plane heading for England in the next few days I don't know how much that would cost."

"A plane, no I can get there faster with a portkey I just need approval. I know I can get one. I _have_ to get one. I can't leave him alone. He has no one other than me."

Although still not understanding how her daughter felt for the older man she recognized the look in her daughter's eyes and knew that she wouldn't stop until she had fixed what had happened. "Well it is late and I doubt you can get one tonight, besides you look exhausted."

She knew her mother was right; there was nothing she could do tonight with the ministry closed. She was tired, wandless and had no money on her so she couldn't get to the building tonight and camping outside wouldn't accomplish nothing. "I am tired, they took my wand away so I walked here."

"They took _your_ wand? Why on earth would they take your wand from you? You did nothing wrong."

Hermione sighed, "I don't know. I guess they were worried I would do something to stop them. I did kind of try to get them off of him. It was just so horrible; I couldn't just let them take him. They didn't even let us have a moment to say goodbye."

"Go upstairs and get soon sleep. In the morning we will take you into Sydney, you can get your wand back and then you can figure out a plan. I know things look bad but you will find a way, you always do."

After she was upstairs Thomas turned to his wife. "I was not prepared to handle our daughter being with someone so much older than her, but it is nothing to the fact that he is a murderer. Are you serious about helping her with this? There is a point where we can't just wait for her to come to her senses we need to do something about this."

She took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze, "I don't think there is anything we can do. Hermione is a strong young woman and she will make up her own mind whether we are there to help her or not."

"But that's just the thing, what if it's not her mind. Look what she was able to do to us, and she was only 17. He is much more powerful and knows more than she does what if he did something to her, brainwashed her into helping him?"

She shook her head and attempted to put her husband's mind at ease. "I don't think so. You have to remember she saved him. She did that all on her own there was no one telling her to do it, no spell cast on her. She did it because whatever it was that he did to help end everything was bigger than what his previous crimes were. Hermione wouldn't just save a murderer if she didn't truly believe he was innocent. We don't know the whole story and until we do I think we should trust what she is doing, even if we do not agree with it."

Hermione lay awake long into the night. She couldn't stop thinking of where Severus could be. _Was he still in Australia or was he already sent back to England? How was he being treated? What would happen once he returned home?_

**A/N: I might try and put some more up later but for now I hope you enjoyed the updates.**


	26. Chapter 26

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

**A/N: Your please were heard and I am delivering another chapter. Enjoy!**

She only slept a few hours before she heard her mother moving around in the kitchen. She stumbled her way out and helped herself to some coffee. Her mother eyed her, not liking what she saw. "Hermione, your father and I will take you into town whenever you would like. So you just let us know when you are ready."

"I want to leave as soon as possible. They should be open at to the public at seven."

"Well I don't suggest we go right away. You might want to shower and I will pull out something for you to wear. If you are going to petition for your friend you will want to look a little more presentable."

Her mother brought her the clothes and she took a hot shower, letting the water wash over her tired body and revive it for the task at hand. The car ride to Sydney was quiet. Her father was still not fully comfortable with what was going on and Hermione was focused on getting there and finding out all she could.

Hermione had soon directed her father to the city hall building and he parked out in front. "Really this is your Ministry? This is the city hall for Sydney."

"Yes this is it, I was here before. They share the same building. There is a charm in place that hides the floors for the wizarding offices."

When Hermione got out of the car her mother made to follow. "Mom you should probably not come in with me. I am not sure if they allow, well, muggles into the magical areas."

"Should we wait here for you in case there is a problem?"

"You don't have to, there is no reason for them to not give me my wand, I haven't done anything wrong, so I will be able to apparate home. If anything happens I will send you word. They use cockatiels here by the way so don't be surprised if one shows up."

Thomas grimaced as he watched his daughter walk into the building. "I don't like this Elizabeth, I don't like this at all. Maybe we should stick around anyways."

"No let's go home. If we are here and she get home or sends a message I want to be where she can find us."

With a sigh Thomas put the car in gear and pulled out of his parking spot, heading back home.

Once inside Hermione found the same man working the front desk as she had on her first visit. She walked up to him and asked for the 14th floor unsure where she would find magical law enforcement and not wanting to ask out right with so many muggles around.

"Right this way ma'am." He said leading her towards the back of the building. Once they were inside the elevator she stopped him before he tapped his wand on the panel to make the magical floor appear. "Wait, I actually don't know what floor I need I just didn't want to ask back there. I need to get to magical law enforcement."

He nodded, "That would be floor 20. You know it is a lot easier to just apparate into the building and ask at the front desk up there."

"I know but I…" She hesitated not sure she should tell him she didn't have a wand. "I was somewhere I couldn't apparate from so I had to come in the bottom entrance."

When they got to the 20th floor Hermione stepped out and thanked the man for his assistance. There were large glass doors in front of her that said Magical Law Enforcement in large block letters. She pushed her way in and walked up to the front desk were a disgruntled looking man sat.

"Um hi, I am here to pick up my wand."

He shuffled around some papers on his desk and handed one to her. "I need you to fill out this form and turn it into the box on the desk. It will be reviewed and an officer will be out to assist you with the return of your items."

She quickly filled out the form with her information, and the type of wand taken. Once finished she placed it in the box and watched as the paper folded itself into an origami bird and flew off down the hall. She remembered watching the notes that flew around the British ministry when she and the boys had broken in last year.

She sat in a chair and waited. Twenty minutes later a wizard wearing the same robes as the men from the night before wandered out and called her name. She stood and followed him back to his office. Once they were seated he addressed her, "Okay Miss Granger, it seems that everything is in order on this end. Sorry about it being taken in all but it is customary to remove the wands of those present during a dangerous arrest to ensure that the criminals don't get a hold of one. Also, it keeps from the nasty business of having our officials attacked by others."

She glared at the man, "He isn't a criminal."

He ignored her statement and handed her some forms. "I need you to sign here and here, then we can go down the hall and retrieve your items." She signed where he indicated and then they walked back to what she guessed was the vault that held any confiscated items. She wondered if Severus' wand was in there as well. The man handed all the forms to a guard sitting behind a desk. He looked them over then walked off into the back. He came back several minutes later with a box in his hand. He opened it and held it out to Hermione, "Please check and ensure this is the correct item." She looked at it and identified it was her wand. The man removed it from the box and handed it to her before stamping a piece of paper and handing it to her. "This is a receipt for your records to prove that you retrieved you item on today's date at 8:47am. Have a nice day."

She and the officer assisting her made their way back to the front lobby. When they got there he turned to her, "Is there anything else I can assist you with?"

This was the opening Hermione had been waiting for. "Actually yes, I wanted to ask about someone you have in custody. His name is Severus Snape and I need to know where he is at and if I can see him."

The man gave her a forced smile, "Are you family?"

"No, but I am as close as he has left."

"Well that information is on a need to know basis and since you are not family I am afraid you don't _need_ to know."

"What! What do you mean I don't need to know? He is my friend and roommate and he was taken last night from our house."

"I mean exactly what I said. That particular inmate is under arrest for very severe charges both here and in England, as I am sure you know since you were roommates. If you were not given any information last night then that means you are not entitled to know anything. Now if you don't have anything else for me to assist you with then I shall wish you a good day."

Angry about not getting anything she turned to leave. As she did she bumped into another man. Looking up she saw it was the officer in charge from last night.

"You!" she practically hollered at him. "Where is Severus?"

He looked down and her and frowned. "Why if it isn't the little spitfire witch from last night. Come to get your wand back?"

She gave him her most withering stare, one that even Severus would have been proud of. "Where is he? And what is going to happen to him?" her voice was harsh.

He glared back at her., "Listen here miss. You are lucky that all I did was confiscate your wand and that I didn't see fit to arrest you last night with the stunt you pulled. My guess is that you have already been told that you are not entitled to that information. I suggest you take yourself back home and leave the fate of this criminal in our hands."

"No, you listen here," she barked at him, "I will just about guarantee that I have been up against more dangerous persons just in the last year then you will ever see in your career. I am a war hero as is the man you arrested last night."

He laughed openly at her, "Little girl I don't care what it is you claim to be, so run along and find something to do other than stand here and bother me."

Hermione was furious and it took every ounce of self-control she had not to hex the crap at the man. He saw her hand clench and unclench and read her thoughts. He leaned in close to her his voice low, "I dare you to go there, give me a reason to arrest you and I will make sure you are put nowhere near your little boyfriend's cell. You won't see him and you won't get out in time to do anything for him."

She balled her hands up and continued to glare at the now retreating for of the officer. _You are of no use to Severus in jail. _She told herself over and over. As he disappeared around the corner she turned and stomped out of the office and boarded the elevator. She punched the button that would take her to the main lobby for the ministry. When the elevator started its descent she forced herself to take deep breaths and calm down. No one would listen to her if she turned into an uncontrollable teenager. She needed to remember she was an adult and needed to handle things as such. Yelling would get her nowhere. She had already done something she was not proud of and pulled her hero card on the ass of an officer to no effect. No one knew who she was down here; she wasn't in England and would have to find another way to be helpful to Severus.

Once at the front desk Hermione asked if she could be directed to the floor that handled international wizarding relations as well as the department for magical transportation. She figured she would try the international relations first and if that didn't work she would schedule a portkey home and try to find out what she could there.

The girl behind the desk smiled and informed her to go to the 16th and 17th floors respectively. She thanked that girl and went back to the elevator hitting the button to the 16th floor. When stepped out of the elevator she entered straight into the office for international relations. She looked around for a moment before a witch not much her senior walked up. "G'day miss. How may I help you today?"

Hermione tried to return the smile she was given. "I need to talk to someone about an issue surrounding myself and another wizard last night. We are both visiting from Britain and I am not at all happy about the way things have been handled."

"Oh well, if you will take a seat I will see if there is someone available to talk with you." The girl said with a much more serious expression. She bustled off down the hall and didn't return for several minutes. Hermione wandered around the office waiting for her. Finally she heard her footsteps coming back down the hall.

An older man had accompanied the girl. "Hello, my name is Braden King. Theresa here says that you are visiting from Britain and are having some difficulties. Why don't you come into my office and we see if there is anything I can do to help."

Hermione nodded and followed him to his office. As they were walking he asked her name. When she answered Hermione Granger his face twitched slightly in surprise showing that he recognized her name. _He must be the official in charge of Europe since he seems to know my name._

As soon as they were in his office, he brought up the conflict in Britain. "So I must start by asking if you are the Hermione Granger as in one of Harry potter's friends."

"Yes that would be me."

"And what brings you down under Ms. Granger? Although I must say your appearance here explains your much noted absence from the Daily Prophet."

Hermione fought back a groan at the mention of the newspaper. She hadn't been reading it herself since leaving England but in the letters she had exchanged with Harry over the past few months she knew there were various wild speculations around her not being there.

"I came here to find my parents. They came here before the war got bad to hide from what was happening. But the problem is that I came here with another wizard, a wizard who was arrested last night from our shared flat. He has done nothing wrong in this country and there was no reason for the harsh treatment dealt to him or myself."

Braden King raised his brows in surprise at what he was hearing. "I see, now can you give me more details into the surrounding circumstances? This is definitely something that I will need to look into."

"Yes last night my roommate and I were in our house when I heard something out in the front yard. When I went to see what it was, the door burst open and two law enforcement officers came in and placed a body binding curse on me. I had no idea what was happening and then they pointed their wands at my roommate and started yelling at him to drop his wand. They treated him like he was some dangerous criminal coming to attack them when he only had out his wand because of the curse they had on me. As soon as they released me he gave up his wand and was cooperative.

They threw his against the wall and took him away without telling me anything. They also took my wand away and I had to come here today where I was mistreated yet again by the same officer. Now I will admit that last night I was scared and didn't know what was happening. I did try and pull the officers off of him, but it was my friend who calmly asked me to stop while the officers roughly shoved me away."

King looked up from the paper he was writing on when Hermione stopped speaking. "I must say that does seem more than unnecessary. Can you give me your friends name please?"

Hermione swallowed hard. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get through this without saying it was Severus but she was worried how this man would react. He obviously read the Prophet so he would know of the potions professor and his crimes. She opened her mouth to speak and finding it dry, closed it again. King just looked at her expectantly, waiting for her response. She tried again. "His name is Severus Snape."

King dropped his quill. If the look on his face before was of surprise to hear how she had been treated now it was one of shock.

"You mean to tell me Severus Snape is _alive_?"

"Yes he is alive and here with me; living just outside of Sydney. Or he was until he was taken away last night. I just want to know where he is and what is going on."

"Well now Ms. Granger, you do realize that it being Severus Snape changes everything. He is a deatheater and by that shouldn't even be able to cast magic in this country. We have very specialized and powerful charms put in place to keep people like him from being able to hide here. While I don't condone the means they used at your flat last night you have to understand where they are coming from as well. They were sent to arrest and international criminal with the power to bypass our protective charms. Why on earth would you of all people be here with him? He and those like him were trying to kill you and your friends."

Hermione closed her eyes and forced herself to breath before answering him. "What you fail to understand sir, is that there are no men like Severus. He was not fully one of the deatheater ranks, he was a spy who did terrible things at the command of another. And that person pulling his strings was Albus Dumbledore. Several things came to light at the end of that battle leading to his true colors coming to light. Now I understand that Harry has yet to have a chance to clear his name but that was because he has not yet had a pressing reason to do so. Since he could never find a body it took away the need for a funeral and with so many other things pressing on his mind as the country tries to right itself he has not shared the information he shared with me. "

"Even so, that is not for us to decide here. He will need to return to Britain to have his fate decided there. But I would think that they will keep him here for several days for questioning as to how he was cleared for magic. He should have gone through the check in process like everyone else. And they will need to know how he got around it."

"But he did go through the process the same as I did."

"That isn't possible. What of his mark?"

"He doesn't not have one anymore."

"How?"

"A potion that he and I created. We spent the first several months here working on it until it was completely removed. He is not a deatheater, they wouldn't want to remove the link they shared with their master. Severus couldn't wait to be rid of it."

The ministry official was silent for several moments thinking over what she had said. "We may need this. May I have what you just told me entered officially? If it matches with what he says then it could hurry the extradition and stop him from being kept here for an extended period of time."

She nodded, "Of course I want to do anything I can to help him. Now is there any way you can get me in to see him?"

He shook his head at her, "I am afraid I do not have that kind of power. I can get you information and keep you up to date which I'm guessing they have not done for you."

"I would appreciate that. When he is sent back to England I want to get there before him, to help smooth things over as much as I can. Is there a way you can help me get an express portkey?"

"That I can do. I will need to be in touch with Magical Law Enforcement but they will need to contact me anyway before they can do and extradition to Europe." As soon as I hear anything I will get in touch with you. Just leave me the address you are staying at."

Hermione wrote down her parents address and after thanking him, went back to the main floor to get to the apparation point.


	27. Chapter 27

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

**A/N: Here is some more for you. Enjoy!**

Once back at her parents' house she told them everything she had been through at the ministry.

"So now what are you going to do?" her mother asked.

"Well, I am going to go to work to put in my notice and just state an emergency back home, that I don't know when I will have to go. Then I will get a hold of our land lord and see what I need to do there. We have a 6 month lease so I am pretty sure it is up this month anyway. I know Severus had been in contact with him to extend it but I don't know if the paperwork had been finished. Can I stay here until I know what is going on?"

"Of course you can dear, you don't even have to ask." Her father responded.

Hermione grabbed something to eat then made her way to work. Julie looked relieved when she walked in the door.

"Oh my god Hermione, where have you been? I have been trying to find you all morning. It's not like you to just not show up."

"I know, I'm so sorry Julie. I had an emergency come up and I have been dealing with it all day."

"What happened, is everyone okay. It isn't something to do with Severus is it?"

Hermione hadn't planned on telling her what happened but now looking at her she felt she deserved to be told. It would all come out in the papers soon anyway.

"Listen, can we shut down the shop for a moment and talk?"

Julie saw the seriousness in Hermione's face and agreed. Whatever her young friend had to tell her it was obviously not something they needed a customer to walk in on.

She locked the door and they went into the back room to talk.

"So what is going on?"

"Well I haven't been entirely honest with you on who I am. Did you ever hear of the wizarding war going on in Europe?"

Julie nodded, "Yeah, they had to set up some new security measures down here because of it."

"Then do you know who Harry Potter is?"

"Do I? The story of the boy who survived a death curse is pretty extraordinary, it gets around."

"Well Harry is my best friend. We went to school together and were in the same house at Hogwarts. In our seventh year he, I and another boy named Ron went with Harry to try and stop the war. We succeeded in the end but a lot of lives were lost. After the war I found Severus barely alive and I took him back to my house and did everything I could to keep him alive. No one back home knows this. For all intense purposes he is believed to be dead. But last night he was arrested and they are probably sending him back to Europe."

"Wait why did they arrest him?" Julie asked.

"Because back home it wasn't believed that Severus was a good guy. Only a very few of us know the true roll he played in the events. Without him, the war would have ended very differently and more, including myself, would have been killed."

Julie let out a gasp, "Oh my god. But if he is one of the good guys then won't it just be something to clear up and he'll be released?"

"It's not that easy. Some of his crimes are subject to harsh punishment. You see Severus killed the headmaster of our school. He was later made the headmaster and during his time many children were tortured."

"Hermione! You have been living with a murderer? Wait I was hitting on a murderer! Oh my god."

If it wasn't for the seriousness of what Julie was saying about Severus, Hermione felt she could have laughed at this. Leave it to Julie to make that the point.

"Julie it's not like that at all. He didn't do it in cold blood. He was ordered by Dumbledore, the headmaster, to do it. Dumbledore didn't want a student to destroy his soul or lose his life which would have happened if Severus didn't do it. He didn't want to but he had to in order to save another. I know it is confusing but it's true. He isn't a bad man and he doesn't deserve to be put through all this. He was starting over, moving on in ways he never thought he could, and… and…" Hermione's voice broke unable to say the rest. It didn't take much for Julie to catch on.

"You fell in love with him didn't you?"

Hermione nodded and stared at her hands. "I have to get him back Julie. I never got to tell him. I didn't even realize it until they came to take him from me. I actually attacked to police to get to him."

"Oh darling, you go do what you need to do. You get that man of yours and you tell him how you feel. Although I'm sure he knows already. Now you just sit here and take a moment and I will go and get your paycheck."

It was two days before Hermione heard anything from Braden King. She was sitting in her parent's living room staring out the window when she spotted a cockatiel flying towards the house. She jumped up and ran to the front door, throwing it open in time for the bird to come in and land on her shoulder. She took the note quickly from the bird's mouth and tore it open.

Ms. Granger,

I apologize for the delay in this letter but I wanted to have something substantial before I sent it off. I have been able to see Mr. Snape, he is in good health and no worse for wear from spending the last few days in a holding cell here. Thanks to your testimony, he was cleared of any charges of dark magic in getting around the security spells. He is being blacklisted from the country, however, until such a time as he is cleared of all charges in Europe.

They are extraditing him in three days, March 17, and I was able to secure a portkey for you on the morning previous. Please meet me in my office at 7am on the 16th so that you can return to England.

Sincerely,

Braden King

Hermione read the note twice before realizing that the bird was still sitting on her shoulder waiting for her to send a reply. She ran to her father's study with the bird squawking at the sudden movement. She grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled off a note thanking him and saying she would be there on the 16th.

Her mother came out of the kitchen just as she was sending the bird out the door.

"What is it, did you get a letter?"

"Yes he is still here, at least for the next few days and the official for international relations managed to get me a portkey for the 16th. I should get there a day before him so hopefully I can put out any fires that are happening and maybe keep too much from hitting the papers."

"Have you contacted Harry yet?"

She sighed, "No, I was going to send him a letter but decided I should probably wait until I see him. I haven't gotten anything yet asking what was going on and if I knew Severus was also in Australia so I'm guessing he hasn't heard anything."

"You don't think he would put two and two together and know that you are here, well, together?"

"Mom, I love those two boys to death but no I don't think they would figure anything even close."

"Do you know how you are going to tell them or even what you are going to tell them?"

"No, I have been trying to figure that one out but nothing is springing to mind. How do I tell my best friends that I am in love with our most hated potions professor who is now in jail?" She sunk down into the couch covering her face with her hands, "Oh this is going to be a disaster."

Two days later Hermione walked into the International relations office and was greeted by Braden King. "Are you ready Ms. Granger?"

"Yes of course. Have you been able to see Severus since you wrote to me?"

"No I have not been able to see him, they are having him heavily guarded. Last I heard there was even talk of having his cell surrounded by dragons."

"Dragons?! Why on earth would he need dragons? He gave himself up willingly and he doesn't have a wand."

"There was a rumor circulating that he was high enough up in the ranks that if any fellow deatheater caught wind of where he was they would come to free him."

As furious as she was this made her stop and think. If it got out that Severus was alive and wandless, there could be a problem of deatheaters coming for him, just not to rescue him. A pair of fire breathing dragons could be the thing to deter them. "Has it been released in Europe that Severus is alive and in custody?'

"No, I believe that they are keeping it under wraps because they don't want to attract unwanted attention. Only a handful of people know if it and they were placed as secret keepers of the information."

He took her up to the roof top where he pulled a small, silver marble out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione. "It will activate in 10 minutes and you will be transported to the British Ministry. The Minister is waiting for you."

She nodded and took hold of the marble waiting for the gut wrenching feeling of the portkey. When the marble began to glow faintly, Braden King wished her a safe journey and waved as she felt the hook behind her belly and Australia swirled out of focus.


	28. Chapter 28

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

**A/N: Second chapter for tonight. I'll get more up tomorrow afternoon (Pacific Standard Time) or later today depending on where you live lol.**

Hermione landed with a thud in a room at the British ministry. Kingsley Shacklebolt was there to greet her. "Hermione, nice to see you again. I hope the trip wasn't too rough." He said as he put out a hand to help steady her.

"Nice to see you again to Kingsley, only I wish it was under better circumstances."

His brow furrowed and he lowered his voice, "Yes well, I was surprised to get a message from Mr. King saying that you would be coming through a day before Snape did. I was not even aware that you were in Australia at that point. Would you mind coming into my office so we could discuss what has been going on?"

"Of course not sir."

He led the way to his office and shut the door. She noticed as they walked through the hall that that she received several curious looks as they went. Obviously no one else knew of her impending arrival.

Kingsley wasted no time once they were seated in his office. "How did you come to know of Snape's arrest in Australia?"

Hermione replied without batting an eye, "Because I was hexed as he was forcefully taken from our home."

This was obviously not the response he had been expecting. "WHAT?!"

"You heard what I said."

"What do you mean by 'our home' you were living with Snape?"

"Yes, we have been roommates basically since an hour after the war ended."

"Something tells me we have to go back to the beginning on this one."

"The whole story is much too long. Will you settle for the abbreviated version?"

"Please."

"Well long story short I went back for his body and he wasn't dead so I took him somewhere safe and kept him alive. When he was better, he wanted out of England and I needed to go find my parents. He didn't want anyone to know he was alive so he had all his things 'left' to me. We took what we needed and boarded a plane. Since then we have been sharing a house and working together since last June. He has been training me in potions in fact."

"Why would you save him and not turn him in? Hermione did you forget what he did? You were there."

Hermione shook her head; _Harry really hasn't talked to anyone about Severus._ She thought. "There is a lot you don't know minister. I think you need to bring Harry in so he can share with you what he told me, because without Severus the war would have ended very differently."

"Harry knows about this?" he asked.

"No, Harry has no idea I am going to go find him and tell him everything as soon as I leave here. But he knows who Severus really is and what side he was really on."

"Severus?"

Hermione ignored the question in his remark.

"Fine then I will bring Harry in soon. I will leave it to you to apprise him of the situation. You will know better how to tell him this than I will."

"There is one thing I would like to ask of you before I leave minister. I want to see him after he arrives tomorrow. In Australia they barely told me a thing and I haven't seen him since they took him away. I… it's just that we became… well friends, and I want to see for myself that he is okay. I don't need much just a few minutes alone."

"I can't promise that you will get to be alone with him but he will be arriving tomorrow at 8pm after everyone has left the building. I suggest you be in my office at seven. Bring Harry as well, I will want to talk to him before seeing Snape."

"Thank you, whatever you can manage is appreciated."

Hermione made her way to the apparation point at the entrance to the building and managed to get away without anyone stopping her. Her first stop was to go to Grimmauld Place and see if Harry was home. He answered the door after her second knock.

"Hermione! What are you doing here? Come in, why didn't you tell me you were coming back into town? I would have met you."

"I'm sorry Harry there wasn't time. I just kind of got a last minute portkey because there was a bit of an emergency and I needed to get back fast."

"Causing trouble down under?" Harry asked with a laugh. He quickly turned serious when he saw her face. "Blimey Hermione, what is going on?"

"Listen I wasn't entirely truthful about what was going on in Australia. I didn't have an investigator help find my parents and there was no aging wizard that I happened to meet who could help me. I went down there with someone, someone that no one really knows about."

"Who was it Hermione, and why the big secret?"

"I had to keep it a secret because of what would and is now happening if the ministry knew about him. It was Snape. The reason you never found his body was because he isn't dead."

Harry's jaw dropped, a reaction she was starting to get used to when she mentioned Severus.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, he asked me not to. After everything you said at the end of the war I couldn't just leave him there." She launched into the story yet again of how she kept him alive and how he offered to help her get her parents back. Of the problems they encountered once in Australia and the potion she helped him to create that removed his mark.

"I was so stupid Harry, I thought after everything that he was free and could live however he wanted. Then we found out he had to get his potions mastery approved and everything changed. It was terrifying after he told me he had submitted it, waiting every day for someone to come take him away."

Harry had stayed relatively silent through most of the story, working to wrap his brain around what he was hearing. "Hermione, if he knew it would be sent for approval then why would he do it. It is almost as if he wanted to be sent back."

"No, I thought the same thing at first so I asked him. He said he did it because he didn't want to have to stay hiding from who he was. He wanted to be able to keep brewing and in able to do that he needed his potions mastery. If he hadn't done it he would still have been trapped. We were just hoping it would be glossed over and not really read by some random, lazy ministry employee."

"So if he wanted to stay a secret why are you telling me?"

"Because a week ago the Australian Ministry burst into our house and took him away. And now he is being sent back here to answer for crimes he shouldn't be convicted of. I'm telling you because I need you to help me get him out of this. I need you to show Kingsley what you told me about."

Harry nodded. He had been planning on doing something about Snape soon. There was talk about a monument being put up in honor of those fallen in the war and he had wanted to make sure he showed up on the list. But now there wouldn't be need, at least not for the monument. Now he needed to air the memories to keep him out of Azkaban. He didn't entirely understand why Hermione had spent the last several months with the professor but he understood her need to win his freedom.

"Tell me what I need to do." He said. She smiled at him and jumped forward giving him a tight hug.

"Thank you Harry, I just have to get him out of there."


	29. Chapter 29

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

**A/N: Thank you again for all the feedback. I can't believe I hit over 100 reviews. It still amazes me to see how much people like this story.**

The next day found the two of them standing in the Kingsley's office. Hermione stood nervously watching the clock, switching from one foot to another. Harry and Kingsley discussed the end of the war and Harry showed him part of the memories that Severus had shared with him when he thought he was going to die. He shared the memories of Dumbledore making Severus to promise to be the one to kill him and not Draco, and for him to watch over the school and help Harry without letting him know.

Minister Shacklebolt came out of his pensive deep in thought. If everything he had been shown was true then it would make a huge difference in Severus' trial.

"I will have to have someone more versed in memories go over these to make sure they are legitimate memories and were never tampered with."

"Of course Minister." Harry answered.

They sat and waited for it to get close to eight so that they could go to the room Severus and his guards would be arriving in. Harry spent most of the time trying to keep Hermione from becoming hysterical and wondering why she was so high strung over this. Sure they had supposedly become friends but this seemed a bit over the top to him.

For Hermione it was the first time she would see him after her impulsive kiss and she was wondering how he would react to seeing her. No matter how he reacted though she had every intention of doing all she could to get him his freedom.

The clock finally showed 7:45 and they made their way into a large, empty meeting room. They were all asked to turn over their wands at the door so as to keep security as tight as possible. They went in and stood against the wall so that no one coming in would fall on those waiting.

Within minutes five figurers swirled into existence in front of them. Severus was handcuffed between two of the biggest guards. Hermione felt herself become angry that he was still being treated as such a dangerous criminal when he had done nothing to make them think he was going to escape. Hermione made to step forward but Harry reached out a hand to hold her back keeping them standing behind the minister.

A British guard who had been in the room stepped forward to speak to the Australian officers. "Everything is secure on our side; I can take him from here."

He reached out and gave a knock on the door. It opened and four more guards walked in with their wands drawn.

"I just need a signature before I can release the prisoner."

"Of course." the minister said stepping forward and signing the offered forms. When he moved it gave Hermione and Harry a clear view of Severus. He was standing, staring impassively at the floor not looking at anything going on around him. After signing Kingsley addressed him. "Everything all right there Snape? No mistreatment or anything?"

Severus looked up and sneered at the minister, "Nothing beyond what is to be expected." As he finished speaking he spotted Hermione and Harry standing there and his face went slack again. While he was not entirely surprised Harry would have found a way to be there he was shocked to see Hermione there. For all he had known she was still in Australia with her parents.

Harry watched as his friend gave the man a small smile and he almost returned it. Any further greeting was cut off as the British guards took control of the prisoner and took him to be processed. As he left the room Hermione turned to the Minister, "Where are they taking him?"

"Don't worry Hermione. He is not being shipped off to Azkaban tonight. I was unsure if it would be safe to place him there and have arranged for him to be kept in one of the holding cells we have below the courtrooms. They are taking him to be signed in. Come with me you two."

They retrieved their wands out in the hall once Severus was out of sight and the minister led them to the elevator. They made their way down to the lowest level where he left them out in a hall while he entered a room saying he would be back but he needed to speak to Severus alone.

Hermione paced back and forth feeling that she was going to go crazy if she didn't know what was happening soon. Harry just continued to watch her bewildered by everything going on.

After what seemed forever to Hermione the minister came out. She looked up at him expectantly, "Hermione there are no guards in there so if you will give me your wand, you may go in and speak with him."

She was so happy to hear she would get time with him, and alone at that, that she practically threw her wand at him as she ran to the door. A guard came and stood at the door as soon as it was closed. Kingsley motioned for Harry to follow him around the corner. They found a one way window there and they could see Hermione standing next to the door staring at Snape intently as he did the same to her.

Now that Hermione was alone with him, something she had been wishing for over a week, she was unsure what to say.

Severus spoke first, "Hermione what are you doing here?"

"I came to try and help you. I spoke to Kingsley and had Harry show him part of the memories. Just the ones about Dumbledore and what he made you do." She added hastily when his eyes widened.

"You shouldn't be here. You should have stayed in Australia with your family. Nothing about this is a good idea Hermione."

She had been so happy to see him that his words hurt her, she felt tears welling up in her eyes and dropped her chin to look at the floor in an attempt to hide it.

"I'm sorry I thought you would want me to come." She said softly.

He rushed forward and lifted her chin gently as he had that day after lunch. "Hermione, that isn't what I meant. I… I am happy to see you here. I just don't know if you should get caught up in all this. Even if the ministry decides I am not guilty there are a lot of people out there who will not agree. Not to mention the number of those who still follow Voldemort who will not be happy to hear of my years of duplicity and role in ending everything. You need to keep yourself safe."

She leaned her head against his chest at his words, relieved to hear that he didn't want her to leave. He brought his arms around her and held her for several moments. Outside both Harry and Kingsley had to work to close their jaws, shocked at the sight before them.

"Um Kingsley, should we be watching all this?"

"I, well, I think maybe we should go back around the corner and wait in the hall."

Harry nodded and they raced back from the window.

With the window charmed to look like a normal wall inside the room the two were unaware of their retreating audience. Hermione finally pulled away to look at him. "I have missed you." She said her voice a whisper as she looked up into his black eyes.

"Me too. I never thought I would say that to anyone but I have been missing you since the last moment I saw you. I can't explain how it felt to see you tonight and know that you are here. I don't know if I will get out of this but even if I don't I want to tell you thank you for everything. You gave me a chance at a life I never thought I could have and offered me forgiveness when I was unable to forgive myself."

"Severus, don't even talk like that, we will get you out of this. When we do you can have the life you want and I will be there for you through it. I don't know how much more time we have so I want you to remember one thing, no dark places."

He gave her a rare smile and squeezed her hand. Neither had said outright what their feelings were for the other, but they didn't need to. When the guard came in a few minutes later to tell them their time was up, Hermione leaned forward and kissed his cheek telling him she would see him as soon as she could or at least get a letter to him. He nodded and watched as she was led out of the room. He let out a sigh realizing that she was barely gone and he already missed her.


	30. Chapter 30

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

**A/N: Only a few chapters left. This will be finished before the end of the week only four more updates after this.**

Hermione stayed with Harry at Grimmauld place. She had gone to her parent's house the first night and had found that she didn't want to stay anywhere alone. She hadn't actually been alone since the end of the war. She had been with Severus or her parents every night and now she found the aloneness too much to handle. Harry had been glad to offer her the room down the hall from his for as long as she needed it.

She had only been there a few days when she and Harry were sitting in the living room together with a pensive sitting on the table in front of them. Harry had just let her see the full memories that Severus had given him and she had been quiet since then. After what he had seen the other day, he had a pretty good idea what made her so quiet now.

He looked awkwardly around the room. He had still never told Hermione what he had seen the night at the ministry and she had yet to tell him about her Severus. He had tried several times to bring it up but blanched every time. Now he knew he had to say something.

"Hermione, listen I know it must be hard for you to see that. I mean he had it pretty bad for my mom for a long time, but people can change. You say it all the time."

Hermione looked at him now and her jaw dropped. He knew, she didn't know how but he knew about how she felt.

"Harry I am so sorry I didn't tell you what was going on between us. Honestly until the night I got to see him I didn't know either. It just kind of happened. We were together all the time and it was just so comfortable. It was nice having someone around who could challenge me and knew what I was talking about. When they took him away I realized that he was more than just my friend. I was falling in love with him, but I still didn't know how he felt about me. Before that we would sit close to each other or hold hands but it was usually me initiating the contact. He has been telling me he missed me but never anything more than that." She stopped and looked down at her hands. "I guess now I know why."

Harry sat there listening to her amazed at what he was hearing. He had known that there was something between them but he had not expected to hear the word love come out of his friend's mouth.

Before he could figure out what to say to her they heard the front door open and Ron soon walked into the room.

"Ron." They both said in surprise.

"Hey Harry, Hermione I didn't know you were back. When did you get in?"

"I, uh, got back a couple days ago."

It was the first time Hermione and Ron had seen each other since she had gotten back. Harry had been careful about mentioning Ron to her, unsure how she felt about the red head, especially in light of what he had seen with Severus. He had a feeling Ron showing up now was not going to be a good thing.

"Why didn't one of you owl me? I would have come over sooner."

"I have been a little busy Ron." Hermione answered.

"Oh right. Are your parents back with you? Harry said that you were able to reverse the spell. Thank goodness you found that Professor over there who could help you."

Hermione's eyes didn't leave the carpet. She had been dreading telling Harry anything let alone Ron about how she felt. Now it seemed that she wasn't going to have a choice.

Ron looked from one to the other and saw that something was going on. "What is it? What are you two not telling me?" He asked.

Harry looked at Hermione and saw that she didn't want to answer. He figured he would get at least some of it started. "It's about Snape."

"What about him? You two working on trying to get him on the memorial again?"

"Not exactly. It turns out he can't go on the memorial, because he isn't dead."

Ron's eye's nearly popped out of his head. "What do you mean not dead? Have you two lost your minds? We saw him die unless you don't remember."

Hermione finally spoke up, "He isn't dead Ron. I went back for his body after the battle and he wasn't dead. I took him to my parent's house and took care of him until he was better. It was Sev…Snape who help me get my parents back in Australia."

Ron stared at them. "Wait he was with you in Australia? That is why you didn't want us to go isn't it?"

"Yes and no. I knew you two were needed here and he didn't want anyone to know he was alive. It was never supposed to take so long to get them back but we ran into some problems down there and so we ended up staying there together for the last six months. Now he has been found and was arrested and… and I have to get him out."

"Why? I mean I've seen the memories. I know he is basically innocent, but there was still a lot he did that he will need to answer for. You can't tell me he is your friend now, I mean come on, it's Snape."

Hermione looked up at him meeting his eye for the first time. Ron didn't like what he saw. "NO! It's not possible. Hermione, he is cruel and horrible and…" His voice caught and his face turned red. "You don't mean to tell me… I have felt terrible since I sent you that letter and meanwhile you have been shacked up with SNAPE!"

"Ron!" Harry shouted at his friend. "Stop it right now. There is no need to go jumping to conclusions and getting yourself worked up. Let Hermione explain. I think you both owe it to each other to talk about all this."

He plopped down into a chair glaring at his two friends. Just because he knew Harry was right didn't mean he had to like it.

"Listen Ron there has been no 'shacking up'. True we have been sharing the same residence but that was all until a couple weeks ago. Around then the dynamic between us started to change. We were already friends but I didn't really know how I felt until the other day. I promise there was no one but you until you sent me that letter. I'm sorry that I couldn't be here with you and I am sad that we never got to find out what could have been, but now I want to see what could happen with Severus and to do that I have to get him out. I know you probably don't understand and I don't expect you to. But as my friends I do expect you to respect my choices just as I respect yours."

Ron looked at her hard and she held his gaze. He was looking for anything that would let him keep his anger and relieve him of the guilt he had felt for the last few months. He saw nothing but honesty. "You right I don't understand and I'm not sure I want to. But you are my friend and as much as I don't like the bastard I will stand by you why you do this. Just don't ask me to defend him or speak to him."

Hermione rolled her eyes but accepted what he said. Even if Ron wasn't going to help her exactly knowing he wasn't going to hinder her was just as good.

Feeling better and more level headed now that she had seen Severus and had cleared the air with Ron she started to work out a plan of action. She had been discussing it over with Kingsley and they had decided to air some of the memories and his real role in the war before they let it known that he was alive and in the country. Hermione brought up her and Severus' fear about deatheaters still on the loose trying to do something. Kingsley had said he would try to double security and not move him out of the ministry.

Hermione was not able to see him again because they didn't want to attract unwanted attention to her coming and going from the lower levels of the ministry. Instead she resorted to letters addressed to Kingsley's office that he would deliver down to Severus after everyone had left for the night. While anyone else in their position of newly found affections would have been writing of their feelings, Hermione and Severus more often than not discussed potions. She would buy a potions, journal read it then send it to him. Once he had finished it they would tear it apart. That is not to say that how they felt didn't come out occasionally.

Harry walked in on Hermione lounging in the sitting room one evening

She was sitting with a letter in her hands and a grin wider than harry had ever seen her sport before. They had been having a hard time getting the Prophet to print anything putting Severus in a favorable light so smiles had been few and far between for her.

"Good news about something Hermione?"

She jumped out of her seat folding up the letter quickly. Harry caught a glimpse of the handwriting and realized it was from the potions professor. Looking back down at the letter in her hand she felt the smile reappear.

Any misgivings she had felt since seeing his memories had melted away, only leaving Harry's comforting words in her mind. He had been right, people change and if she didn't share what she was feeling now she thought she would burst.

She reopened the letter and gazed at it again. She couldn't find the words to explain how she felt so she held out the parchment to Harry. He stepped forward and took it. There scrawled at the bottom of the page it said 'loving you and missing you more every day, Severus." He had actually said he loved her. He stared at the words unable to fully put those words with the handwriting. The spikey script that had always covered his essays could not be writing words of endearments, especially not to his friend. Although he had known how she felt for a while now, there was still large part of him that wanted to be sick at the thought. He looked back up at Hermione and saw the look of pure happiness on her face though and felt his queasiness recede. She was happy and he couldn't take that away from her. He handed back the letter and put a hand on her arm. "Have you told him yet?"

She shook her head. "Then you better." Her smile managed to get bigger at her friends encouragement.

Before going to bed Hermione wrote a letter back to Severus. She went through several pieces of parchment before she figured out what to say. In the end she chose to just discuss the potions article he had asked her about. She ended her letter with 'I am missing you too. All my love, Hermione.' She sent it out and then lay in bed thinking of Severus and how badly she wanted to be with him.

Severus got her letter the next day. They had been writing to each other almost daily since he had arrived in England but never once had brought up their tenuous relationship. Severus hadn't wanted to say anything about it. He didn't really expect to ever get out of his current situation except to maybe move to a permanent cell in Azkaban so he had avoided mentioning anything about it. Occasionally, he would find that he had put that he missed her at the bottom of his letters but that didn't seem all that out of the ordinary. He had admitted to himself that he had missed her when they were nothing more than friends so it shouldn't matter that he had put it here. What had made him put that he loved her on his last letter he would never know. It was on the paper without him even noticing and once there, he couldn't bring himself to remove it. So he had sent the letter then spent the rest of the day pacing his confined space even more than usual.

Kingsley wasn't able to bring him his letter until late in the evening as it had been a busy day and he couldn't come down during business hours. "So I have it all set up for tomorrow Severus. It will officially show up in the Prophet tomorrow that you are here. I'm not sure how favorable a light they are going to put on it but with everything Harry and Hermione have done in the past two weeks it shouldn't be too bad."

The two men talked for a few minutes about what to expect once everyone knew he was here and alive. Since he had been taken into custody, Severus and Kingsley had spent a lot of time talking. With the help of the memories he had seen from Harry and the different things Hermione had told him about Severus as a roommate, he had come to see him in a better light. Before he left for the night Kingsley reached into his pocket. "Oh I almost forgot, this came for you today." He handed the letter to Severus, who took it eyeing it as if was going to explode. Once alone he opened it and started reading, finding it filled with the usually stimulating conversation he had come to expect from her. He couldn't help the part of him that was disappointed though to see it. When he reached the bottom he nearly dropped the letter. Her simple sending of love was all he could want. It was comfortable and natural just as everything had been between them. Severus folded the letter carefully and placed it on the small table he had in the corner of the room with all her other letters. Whatever happened now he would have to leave to fate, he just hoped that he hadn't sealed hers for the worse.


	31. Chapter 31

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

When word was released the next day of Severus, the local wizarding world was sent for a loop. Those that knew Hermione and Harry and had trusted them all through the fight against Voldemort took everything as he said. Though still wary, they were willing to accept everything that had happened in the war regarding him was because Dumbledore had wanted it that way. Those people were cheering for Hermione and her bravery in saving the dark wizard. There were others though, who did not take so kindly to his being alive.

Many were still furious with him over the death of Dumbledore and the harshness dealt out at Hogwarts while he was headmaster. They wrote letters to Hermione that were filled with hexes or sent through a howler. Hermione had been through all this before in her fourth year and knew how to handle it. She checked each letter before disposing of it and howlers she cast a muffliato charm over and let them do their thing.

The Wizengamot set a time to convene in two weeks so that they would have time to gather any witnesses they required and review the memories given to Harry by Severus. Security had tripled at the ministry and any employees who did not feel comfortable coming to work until after the trial were given a leave of absence.

The day after Severus' first trial, Hermione went for a walk through the park. It was a beautiful spring day and she had just gotten another letter from Severus. She meandered her way along the paths thinking over the events of the trial. It had been intense and they had almost not allowed her into the court room. There had been lots of shouting and accusations thrown around. Several members of the court wanted to throw him into Azkaban on the principle of what he had done, whether his hand had been pushed or not. He still had committed the crimes. Others felt that he should be pardoned as what he had done had actually saved a young man's soul as the risk of his own. They felt he had been punished enough by being forced to carry the guilt of what he had done. At the end of the very long day no consensus had been reached. They were set to resume in the following day to review what had happened at the school while he was headmaster and to make a decision on the murder charge.

She was startled out of her letter by the loud popping sound of several wizards appearing around her. She dropped her letter to the ground and reached for her wand but she was too slow. One of the wizards had hit her with a stunning spell, the world went black around her as she fell to the ground. Quickly another wizard caught her and with another loud pop they were gone.

Harry arrived home the evening to find the house empty. He didn't think anything of it until Ron showed up a little later.

"Hey Harry, where's 'Mione?"

"Probably with Kingsley, why what's up?"

"Nothing much I just thought we could all hit a pub tonight, and she wasn't with the minister. I was just talking to him a few minutes ago when I was leaving the ministry."

"Hmmm, well she shouldn't be gone for too long there was no note. I say we give her a bit and then we can head out and leave her a note letting her know where to meet if she wants."

The two boys sat around talking of the latest Quidditch match when an owl was heard tapping at the window. Harry got up and let the animal in. It dropped a letter at his feet and then flew back out the window.

"I don't recognize that owl, any guess who it could be from?" Harry asked. Ron just shrugged and motioned for him to open it.

Harry tore open the seal and looked down at the unfamiliar writing.

Dear Mr. Potter,

If you ever want to see your bushy haired friend alive again then I suggest you hand over Severus Snape. We will give you two days to acquiesce to this demand. Further direction for where to deliver him will come in 48 hours. There is only one way to leave the dark lords ranks and we mean to see that through.

Harry stared at the letter in his hand unable to believe what it said. Ron saw a look of terror pass over his friends face as he read and snatched it away. He read it and started to ramble, "No this is some kind of sick joke. She… she is just out for a walk or something."

They both turned when they heard their names called from the fireplace. "Harry, Ron, are you there?"

The Minister's face appeared in the fireplace. "Please tell me Hermione is there." They both shook their heads and Ron held out the letter they had received. "Shit." He shouted when he saw it, "Get over here now." He ordered and disappeared from the flames. Harry and Ron each grabbed a handful of floo power and threw it into the flames calling out the for the minister's office.

They landed in his office to find him holding a letter identical to the one that had come to Grimmauld Place. They all started talking at once. Kingsley held up his hands and both boys fell silent.

"We need to come up with a plan. Any ideas?"

"Yeah I have a bloody idea. We give them what they want. He was supposed to be dead already; Hermione shouldn't have to pay because he lived." Ron shouted out, angry there was even a thought to not give up Snape.

"Ron," Harry shouted back at him, "we can't do that and you know it. If we give in then we are just empowering them, something we don't need to be doing for deatheaters."

"So what, we just let them have her? Because that sounds so much better." Ron scoffed at him.

"Boys! I did not ask you here to bicker. I need help coming up with a plan."

"We need to tell Snape." Harry said flatly. Kingsley nodded and they made their way through the disserted ministry halls. Severus sat up quickly from his cot when the door opened. He had not been expecting anyone until the morning. He was even more surprised to see Kingsley and Potter walk in with Ron Weasley. He was about to make a snide comment to the redhead when he noticed the expressions on their faces. Severus felt true fear envelope him for the first time since Nagini had been sent at him. There was only one thing that these three people had in common with him and she was blaringly missing from the room.

"Where is Hermione?" He growled.

Harry looked over at Kingsley who held out his copy of the ransom letter.

Severus read it quickly, his already dark eyes turned darker and all the color drained from his face.

"When did you get this?"

"No more than 10 minutes ago. I received one at my office and Harry had one show up at his house."

He looked down at the letter again then back up at the three people in front of him. "You have to do it. You have to do what they say."

Kingsley shook his head, "No Severus, we are not going to just hand you over. We have two days to figure this out and we will."

Severus' face went from white to red in an instant. "Two days! We don't have two days. THEY are deatheaters and SHE is a muggle born. Not to mention she's Harry Potter's best friend and is publically advocating for my release. Do you really think they are just keeping her tied up in a corner waiting it out? THEY ARE TORTURING HER! If you find a way to let them know that you will give them what they want we might be able to get her out of there sooner."

"Severus it's not just that. I can't just let you out of here. You are in trial it's not up to me to make this decision." The minister replied softly.

"Then call the counsel together, they can't just let her sit there."

Harry stepped forward and addressed his old potions professor. "I understand how you feel, we all do, but this is not the way to handle this. Hermione is our friend and we love her too and we want to get her out of this."

Severus was a little taken aback by this statement. He hadn't figured that anyone else knew about his feelings for Hermione, but the pointed look Harry had given him left no doubt that it was not a secret she had kept from her friends.

"Besides, Hermione did a lot to make sure you were kept alive and if you just give yourself over to them then it will have been for nothing. We have to find a way to figure out where they have her and rescue her. Otherwise, all that she is going through right now will not get better if you are not there at the end. I don't know if you noticed this about her but she is fiercely loyal and will fight to the end for what she believes in. Right now what she is fighting for is you. Don't waste her efforts professor. "

The room went quiet after Harry spoke. All three were trying to think of another way to handle this.

"Do you recognize the handwriting?" Kingsley asked.

"No, I don't. I will say this stinks of the Carrows' though. They watched me closely while at the school. They were always questioning the punishments I handed out as not being strict enough. I'm not sure they fully trusted me ever. What about the owl that brought then what did it look like?" Severus returned.

"I didn't actually see the animal. My window was open, it flew in dropped the letter and flew away while I was out of the office. I found it sitting on my desk when I returned."

"It was just a regular tawny owl that brought mine. It didn't stick around though either, I don't even remember if it landed. Do you have any clue where they might hide out?"

"I'm not sure. There are some places that had significant meaning to Voldemort. He would have us meet him at the places. They might be at one of those but in all honesty I'm not sure where the actual location is. When we were summoned we just concentrated on the mark. I might be able to figure out a way to get back there off of memories though."

"Well that is more than we had to go on before."

"Wait," chimed in Ron, "isn't that how you apparate anyway. You picture the location, concentrate and your there?"

Severus sighed, "No Mr. Weasley that is not it. The destination is tied to a specific geographic location. If I was to try and get to Grimmauld Place for example and didn't know what it was called or where exactly it was, I may end up in any other dark and gloomy house. I may not even stay in London if I don't know that piece of information."

"Well then how would they know where these places are?"

"Because they would have stayed there with him. I was needed back at Hogwarts so I was only there when sent for. I never had to come and go from the locations like they would have."

They all lapsed back into silence. "Do you really think you could find them?" Harry finally asked.

"I believe so. There is one place in particular the Carrow's liked; I would think that if it is them it would be the most likely."

"About how many can we expect to be with them?" asked Harry.

"At least Mulcabir, Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott."

"Nott was captured soon after the battle and is in Azkaban." said the minister, "I will attempt to gather the Wizengamot tonight and will be back as soon as I can." He turned to leave, leaving Harry and Ron in the room with Snape.

"Potter, Weasley, if they don't let me out to find her, you have to. I don't care if you turn me over on a silver platter to them but you have to get her out of there."

Both boys nodded. Harry looked as though he wasn't entirely convinced but Ron showed no signs of hesitation. He had never liked Snape, deatheater or not, and had no qualms in doing what he needed to save his friend.

Kingsley came back in a much shorter time than anticipated to find Severus sitting on his cot with his head in his hands and the two boys in a similar position on the floor. They scrambled to their feet and Severus looked up hopefully as the minister walked in.

"The counsel has said that this is a matter for magical law enforcement and not for the courts. However, I did get them to move up the start time for your trial tomorrow to first thing since this does involve you."

"Not until the morning? He could find her tonight if they would get here now." Ron yelled.

"Yes well, these are all a bunch of self-interested Arses, who couldn't give a damn about anyone not directly connected to them. As far as they see, I just lost my biggest supporter." Severus growled through clenched teeth. Harry had only seen him close to being this angry once, the day he had gotten into his pensive in fifth year.

"We'll just have to make a good case then so that they will let you go."

"No, Potter, you and Weasley need to go look for her. I can give you a brief description of the location I believe they would take her but it will take a lot of work to actually find the place as I never saw the outside."

Harry and Ron nodded knowing that they needed to be doing something even if it was basically pointless. They would go stir crazy if they had to stay in a room tonight and neither could see how Severus Snape, the constant doer, would manage it.

He gave them all he could about the building and they quickly left to start the search. Kingsley left soon after feeling he could do more by making sure that Severus got off on the charges as headmaster. Unsure what else to do, he flooed Minerva in her personal chambers at the school.

"Minerva where are you?" He called out to her.

"Kingsley! What on earth are you doing here?" The older woman asked with her thick brogue.

"I need to come through, it's important."

She nodded and stepped back to let him through.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Minerva but I have a sticky situation and I need your help."

"What is it I can do for you Minister?" She asked leading him into her office.

"It's about Severus and Hermione. She has been taken by some untracked deatheaters and Severus is the only one who can get her back."

The older lady pressed a hand to her chest in shock. "Hermione has been kidnapped? But why? How?"

"They took her earlier today, we don't know when exactly. Harry and I both received letters this evening. They say that they want to exchange her for Severus. I need you to help me get Severus released in the morning, He is going up for charges of abuse committed at the school."

"So we are trying to free Severus to hand him over to the deatheaters?"

"Not exactly, although at this point I wouldn't be surprised if Severus did just that to get her back."

Minerva looked at him oddly, "Why would he do that? He has never been particularly fond of the young witch and though I know they struck up a friendship of sorts in Australia I don't see him sacrificing himself for her."

"It is a little more complicated than that. They struck up more than just a friendship in Australia. I don't think anyone really knows, I came upon the information by accident. He thinks he knows who is responsible and may have a way to find them that no one else has."

McGonagall was taken aback by this information. She would never have thought that those two would have found friendship let alone anything deeper. She did have a soft spot for the young Gryffindor and would do whatever it took to get her back. If getting the ex-potions professor freed accomplished that then she would do her best. Besides, his freeing her may help to atone for some of the deeds that he had done in her eyes.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to tell me about his time as headmaster."

"Humph, I don't see how that is going to help his case. There was a lot of things that went on that were unnecessary and downright cruel."

"He and I were discussing it recently and he spoke of sending students to other teachers as much as he could to keep them away from the Carrow's."

The older woman frowned as she thought back to the previous year. There were many times that the Carrow's were about to deal out punishment and he would appear. If any of the other heads of houses were around and fought for the right to deal with the students he would give in, even if it seemed reluctant, much to the dissatisfaction of his fellow deatheaters. He could also be found in the corridors at all hours, hardly ever seeming to sleep, always on the prowl for students misbehaving. Looking back she could see how his doing so allowed him to deal with the students before the Carrow's could get there. The students also came out of his detentions with much fewer injuries if any, compared to the detentions dealt by the demented brother and sister.

"Looking back now, I can see how he could say that. He often did let me deal with my Gryffindors' however I chose as long as they did receive some form of detention. He was often out and about and intervened quite often in their punishments. I can even think of a few times when he would take over on the punishment and while he still cursed the students, it was nothing like would have had if he hadn't intervened."

"Thank you Minerva, anything you can think of that might help with this will be greatly appreciated. Now I had better get going I want to check in on Severus one more time to try and figure out a plan for getting her and maybe even capturing the deatheaters behind this."

She nodded her goodbye to him and watched as he stepped through the fire back to his office. After he had gone she heard a throat being cleared behind her. She turned to face the portrait responsible.

"I should have known you would be up and listening in Albus. What do you think of this sad turn of events?"

He gave her a smile a twinkle still in his eyes. "I think my dear lady that we are in for a long talk." He yelled for the other portraits to wake up started in on a plan of his own for keeping Severus from going to Azkaban.

**A/N: Sorry I took so long to get this up but I wanted to have more than this one chapter for you. I figured if I left it there you would be upset with me. So we are in for the final stretch.**


	32. Chapter 32

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

The following morning saw Severus being chained and led back into the courtroom. He sat in the chair and stared up at the Wizengamot. He saw no change in their demeanors from when he was here two days before. If anything they looked more disgruntled at having the time moved to earlier.

Kingsley started it off by reminding everyone of the seriousness of the proceedings now that the defendant was ransom for one of the wizarding world's brightest witches and hero of the second wizarding war.

A small man in big glasses rolled his eyes. "Come now Minister, you can't honestly believe that this is a coincidence? The day before the final trial to convict a known deatheater who was at the top of You-Know-Who's ranks and there is a note saying that the deatheaters want him handed over to him. How can you be certain that they are not looking to use Master Snape as a new rallying point and leader of the group?"

Kingsley glared down at the man, "The note gave every indication that they meant nothing but ill will towards the defendant. Not to mention that this kidnapping occurred within weeks of his true role in bringing down You-Know-Who being published in the Prophet."

An older female witch spoke up above the murmurs that had broken out in the room. "Yes well, be that as it may that is not the reason we are here. Severus Snape you are here today to await a verdict on the previously addressed crime of killing Albus Dumbledore and to answer for abuse charges while acting as headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Do you have any evidence to present to the court on your behalf?"

Severus took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice level, knowing full well that Hermione's life depended on what happened here in this court room. "Only what I was carrying out the request of Dumbledore to protect the students from the deatheaters who had become teachers. While it is true that I performed several punishments myself on students that were more than ever should be done to a student I was doing what was necessary to keep my cover as a spy and keep the Carrow's from dealing out their own harsher forms of punishment. This included taking students to their head of house to be given detentions."

"So says you." came the voice of the small man again. Severus clenched his fist to keep from glaring up at the man.

"Have you anything to back up this claim?" the witch asked.

Kingsley stood, "I would like to call a witness in to testify on Severus' behalf. Would you please bring in Minerva McGonagall, previously head of Gryffindor house and current Headmistress of Hogwarts?" The doors opened to admit McGonagall who was holding something large and covered in a cloth in her hands. She quickly walked in, summoned two chairs from the corner and transfigured one of them into an easel. She set the item on the easel and uncovered it to reveal the portrait of Albus Dumbledore.

There was a buzz around the room as everyone started to discuss this knew turn of events. The older witch once again called for order. "Come now ladies and gentleman calm yourselves so we can get on with this. Let the witness speak."

McGonagall started by stating what she had seen during his reign as headmaster which although still not shining was in line with what Severus had said during his statement. The Albus in the painting nodded along with everything she said. As she finished, he cleared his throat and asked to speak. Even as a portrait the members of the Wizengamot were unwilling to deny the former headmaster anything.

"As the former Headmaster of Hogwarts I had learned that whenever I needed to know what was going on anywhere in the school all I had to do was talk to the portraits. While Severus Snape was headmaster many of the portraits were busy helping him keep an eye on the students. It was their job to let him know if the Carrow's were going after any of the children. There was never any question about it that he was meant to be where he was and he did _every_ aspect of his job _exactly_ as was needed."

He looked at the still questioning faces of the council around him. "I see that many of you are unsure. Would I be correct in saying that you believe by killing me he took control of a school that was not his to control?"

There were several nods around the room. To everyone's surprise the portrait let out a laugh. "Oh my good people there is so much that you do not understand. No one may take control of that school that is not meant to be; for control is not taken it is granted. You look confused; let me take you all back a few years. Many of you will remember headmistress Dolores Umbridge. She came and attempted to take control of Hogwarts and met many obstacles. I am sure that everyone believes that it was because of something I had done that the headmaster's office was sealed against her. However, it is a common misconception that I would have such power. It was not I, but the portraits that sealed the room entirely of their own accord. When you are officially instated as head of Hogwarts the portraits must acknowledge you and are the ones who teach you how to connect to the castle. If you all think back to Severus' term he had full use of the head office. He spent much time with us, speaking to us and asking for help to keep the students as safe as possible. And we, as is our duty, aided him to perform his task. If he had wrongfully taken the position, then none of that would have happened. And as far as my death went Severus did what I wanted and needed him to do. He saved a young man from corrupting his soul, he ensured that he would stay in Riddle's first circle and he kept me from dying slowly and painfully at either the hands of the deranged deatheaters or from the curse that was plaguing me."

He stopped speaking as looked around at the astonished faces in front of him. The members of the Wizengamot looked at each other trying to figure out what to make of all that they had heard. Having the portrait of Albus Dumbledore tell them that Severus was the rightful headmaster and had worked to protect the students with the aide of the castles portraits was more than they could process.

The silence extended making those in the middle of the room uncomfortable. The portrait decided enough time had been wasted and spoke up again. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I suggest that you take a moment to gather yourselves and come to a decision for this man. As you all know there is more than one life hanging in the balance of the choice you make today."

The seriousness of his tone pulled them back and they all turned to one another and began speaking quietly of all they had heard during the trials. The little man who had been so outspoken at the start of the day seemed to voicing an opinion that was not held by many of the others. Kingsley soon leaned towards the man and said something that made him turn red in anger but it shut him up. Severus watched it all with trepidation. All he could think of was how he needed to be searching for Hermione. He looked around at the other faces in the room, Harry and McGonagall both looked like they were ready to hex the council and a couple reporters in the room looked like they were going to wet themselves in anticipation of the verdict.

The finally turned back to face Severus, their faces were blank as the elder witch addressed him. "Severus Snape, we will now ask the court to show their decision by a vote. All those in favor of sentencing Severus Snape to life in Azkaban Prison for his crimes please raise your hand."

Severus watched as the young man raised his hand with a smug expression. Several others around the room also raised their hands. Severus counted the number of hands up and was amazed at the number.

"All those in favor of dismissing the charges in light of the new testimony given today, including any charges while headmaster and for the death of the previous headmaster Albus Dumbledore, please raise your hand now."

She raised her hand this time along with Kingsley and, much to Severus' surprise, the majority of the room.

"Severus Snape you are here by cleared of all charges and are free to go."

The young wizards stood up and threw his hat angrily across the room and the reporters started writing furiously, trying to get every reaction down. A guard stepped forward and removed the chains from his hands. Severus jumped to his feet, "My wand, I need my wand."

The guard nodded, "You can retrieve it on your way out."

Harry and Kingsley both ran down to where Severus and McGonagall were standing.

"Minerva," said Kingsley, "I can't thank you enough for bringing Albus here."

Severus turned to her and the portrait for the first time, "Yes, thank you both. I do have one more favor to ask you. Can you please open up the castle to allow Kingsley, Potter and Weasley to apparate onto the grounds, and tell Poppy to be ready in the infirmary?"

"Well I'm not sure how to do that."

Severus looked over at the portrait who nodded, "I will show her how. It will be open for you as well my boy."

Severus opened his mouth to say something to the old man but then clamped it shut. He knew he probably wasn't making it back but there was no pointing in wasting time with that now.

The three men rushed to the elevator and made their way to the main floor. They met up with Ron and Severus got his wand from the front desk. At the apparation point Severus stopped them all.

"Before we go I want to ask you one more time if you are sure about this. I can't guarantee how successful apparating four grown men to a location I am uncertain of will work. Also, we will be appearing in the main room of the house so no matter your condition you will have to be ready to fight the second your feet hit the ground."

Harry and Kingsley both nodded right away but Ron hesitated. He had been splinched before by Hermione when they had done a hasty jump and he had been in too much pain to do much of anything. Harry seemed to have read his thoughts. "Hey mate I have a bottle of Dittany in my robes just in case."

Ron swallowed hard and stepped forward. "We had better find her." He said with a glare at Severus.

"If we don't then you are to personally take my wand and hand me over to them tomorrow Weasley."

With that they all reached out, grabbed a hold of his robes and disappeared from the Ministry.


	33. Chapter 33

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

It was cold and dark in the room Hermione was being held in but she didn't care. It beat the bright lights and blazing hot pain she had been going through just moments before. She lay on the floor not moving, her hitched breathing the only sound in the room. She knew she had only been there a day but she was already unsure how much longer she could last. She had hardly had a reprieve from her captors since they had taken her from the park. They had only locked her in this room after she had kicked one of the men in the crotch. She had been laying on the floor whimpering after they had been using the Cruciatus curse on her when one of them had mentioned how much more fun it would be to do this to Snape.

Hearing this had made her fill with rage and when the man stepped near her again she rolled over and kicked as hard as she could. He had gone down hard but the others in the room all cursed her simultaneously until she had blacked out.

Laying there her mind was racing thinking of Severus. She had been longing for him to come and save her, but now knowing what she did she prayed he would stay away. She knew that a ransom note had been sent in and knowing that they were asking for Severus she had a feeling the courts would gladly hand him over so that they wouldn't have to get their hands dirty.

She wasn't sure how long she lay there when she heard footsteps moving towards her room. The door opened one of the deatheaters walked in. "Ah I thought you would be awake again my pretty little mudblood. Come now I am bored and you are going to entertain me." With that he grabbed her roughly by the hair and dragged her out of the room. He left her in the middle of the sitting room they had been using as her torturing area and pointed his wand at her. She eyed it warily waiting for the curse to come and wishing she could get a hold of it. They had snapped her wand in half almost as soon as they had gotten her there. "Hmmm… shall we just stick to the basics or should I mix it up? I know plenty of other dark curses that you might enjoy."

The others in the room laughed as they sat forward to watch Hermione writher under the next curse.

The four men appeared in an old abandoned house, landing hard. Kingsley and Severus managed to keep to their feet but Ron and Harry landed in a heap at their feet. The two older men swept the room quickly looking for any sign that they were in the right place while the younger two scrambled to stand.

Severus let out a string of curse words as they found the place empty. He stormed back into the first room kicking over a chair. Harry stopped him from attacking another piece of furniture. "Sir, did you say there was a second place."

Severus took a deep breath, "Yes there is one other potter but it is a location that was rarely used and will be considerably more difficult to get to."

"Well you got us here and you will get us there too."

They took hold of his robes again and he spun, concentrating on the other location as hard as he could.

With a loud pop they appeared in yet other room. Harry and Ron were ready for it this time and managed to keep to their feet. Rather than a sitting room they appeared in a front entry. They heard a voice inside the room next to them, "Sounds like Crabbe is back. Just think this time tomorrow the real fun will begin."

They all moved towards the door when there was a curse uttered from the other side and a woman let out a scream. They all stopped in their tracks stunned at what they were hearing. Harry and Ron froze as the sound brought back memories of another time they had been forced to listen to that same sound. Severus' face went white then flushed red as he flicked his wand and the doors burst open off their hinges.

Severus strode in, his black cloak billowing and his wand pointed at the head of the deatheater cursing Hermione. Before anyone else could react the man was laying prone on the floor having taken a stunning spell to the face. The shock wore off quickly however, and soon curses where flying everywhere. Severus stood over Hermione trying to shield her while he was attacked by both Carrows'.

The two were throwing curses at him so quickly he could do little but deflect only getting off the occasional curse himself. He was afraid to do much more for fear of leaving Hermione exposed. He chanced a glace around the room and saw Kingsley was dueling Avery while Harry and Ron were taking on Crabbe Sr. who had walked up behind them. Of the two, Severus knew Harry could hold his own while dueling so he called out for Ron, "Weasley! Get over here now. Get her out of here." Ron through one last hex at Crabbe Sr. and ran up dodging the curses that the Carrow's sent his way.

He crouched down behind his old professor and grabbed Hermione under her arms. She was holding onto the hem of Severus robes, her body shaking from the abuse it had suffered. She looked wide eyed at Ron as he tried to lift her. "Hermione, come on stand up. We are getting you out of here." She didn't release her grip on Severus who yelled back at Ron, "Get her out now."

"I'm trying." He hollered beck. Unable to pry her hands loose he pointed his wand at the robes and used a severing charm to remove the piece she was holding onto. Before she could react he wrapped one arm around her waist and stood. He turned in place and thought of the Hogwarts infirmary with everything he had.

They landed in a heap on the ground. Madam Pompfrey and Professor McGonagall ran forward to help the two. Hermione stared at the ripped fabric in her hands, and then looked up surprised to find herself in the castle. "No, no you have to take me back. We have to help him." She tried to get to her feet only to fall back to the ground, her muscles refusing to work. She reached out for Ron, "Please we have to help they want to kill him. Please," She pleaded with him. He dropped back to his knees beside her and held her by her shoulders. "Hermione look at me. It will be fine, Harry and Kingsley are with him and I don't think it's Snape we have to worry about. I will be surprised if the people who took you survive him. Come on let's get you into bed and he will be here before you know it."

She allowed them to get her into a bed but refused to take any of the tonics Poppy gave her until she had seen Severus.

Severus heard them apparate with a pop behind him and his face hardened. Now that he no longer had to stay in one place to protect her he went after the twins with an abandon. He was barely blocking spells now; instead he was charging forward throwing out everything he had. Alecto managed to hit him in the face with one of her curses causing him to reel back momentarily. Blood now pouring down his face from a cut across his cheek he moved forward again, the hatred he felt for the two in front of him was consuming. What they had done to Hermione, what they had done to countless students he was trying to protect, and the way they had enjoyed every moment of it him ran through his mind.

For the first time ever Severus knew what it was like to truly want to take another's life and take enjoyment out of it. With a gleam of menace in his eye he pointed his want at Amycus "Sectumsempra!" he yelled causing the dark wizard to fall to the ground several cuts erupting over his body. Alecto watched in horror as her brother fell but kept moving as Severus was now bearing down on her. Just as he was about to yell a curse at her, her body went stiff and she fell to the ground. Harry had finally managed to stun Crabbe Sr. and had turned to see Severus going for blood on the Carrow twins. He ran over and cast a body bind spell on the one remaining.

Severus moved to stand over her, breathing hard he pointed his wand at her head knowing that with just two words he could end this forever. Just as he was about to cast the killing curse Harry pulled on his arm, "Professor! Stop, they are not worth it."

Severus turned to Harry, his wand still raised. Harry let go of his arm and added in a low voice, "Hermione has done a lot to prove to the world you are not the killer they all thought you to be. Don't turn her into a liar. Let's get them back to the Ministry, I am sure there are still some Dementors somewhere who would like a few new victims. You need to get back to Hermione, make sure she is ok."

He lowered his wand and turned to walk out of the room when Kingsley stopped him. "Severus, I need you to undo this." He said pointing at the still bleeding man on the floor. "I don't know this spell and we can't have you going up against more charges. I'm not saying to entirely heal the man just keep him from dying."

With a glare he walked back to Amycus and kneelt over him. Harry listened as Severus did the same song like incantation he had used on Draco after he had used the spell. Slowly the cuts closed themselves and the bleeding stopped. Severus got back up and left the room, calling over his shoulder as he went, "If you want him to live I suggest you get some blood replenishers in him before he goes into shock from blood lose."

Harry and Kingsley went around removing the wands from the deatheaters and binding them. Once that was finished they apparated back to the Ministry with the prisoners to deliver them to Magical Law Enforcement to be dealt with.

Severus apparated into the front hall of the castle and took a moment to collect himself before going up to the hospital wing. He had only seen Hermione a handful of times since he had allowed himself to tell her how he felt and now because of that she had been subjected to torture. He knew that he needed to be calm when he walked in to see her and right now he felt nothing close to calm.

Slowly he made his way up the stairs, stopping once he reached the open door of the infirmary. Looking in he saw Hermione lay trembling on a bed, her eyes closed as she shook her head refusing whatever Poppy was trying to give her. Ron sat at the end on the bed and Minerva stood wringing her hands. The headmistress saw Severus stop at the door. While she could tell he was trying to keep his usual mask of indifference in place she had known him long enough to catch the emotions running in the back ground as he looked at the young witch.

"Poppy, leave them on the table. Let's allow Ms. Granger a moment." She motioned with her head to the door and the others saw Severus standing there. They moved back from the bed as he walked forward. He stopped and looked at Minerva who, understanding what he needed, nodded and asked the others to follow her outside.

Hermione still didn't move or open her eyes as they left; still unaware Severus was in the room. Once they had closed the door behind them looked over the tonics on the table, choosing one he sat on a chair near the head of the bed. "Hermione," he said softly, "you need to take this."

Her eyes flew open at the sound of his voice and she reached out and grabbed his arm. "Severus" She breathed before pulling herself forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. She clung to him like she had the day he had been arrested, refusing to let go. He held her, stroking her hair, trying to comfort her but unsure what to say. Finally, her muscles couldn't take it anymore and her shaking became so bad she could hardly hold on. He pulled her off and pressed her back into the pillows. He again moved the potion towards her and helped her to drink it as well as a second potion. "This will help your body fight off the effects of the Cruciatus and this will let you sleep."

After taking the tonics she reached out for his hand. "Can you stay with me?" she asked with a trace of fear in her voice.

He realized she still didn't know he had been cleared of his charges. He raised her hand to his lips then gave it a squeeze. "Yes, I can stay as long as you need me. I'm not going anywhere."

With that the potion took over and she drifted off to sleep.


	34. Chapter 34

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

Hermione spent three days in the hospital wing before her shaking slowed. Severus stayed with her the whole time only leaving when necessary. The few who came to visit her were shocked, Ron most of all as he sat there next to her never taking his eyes off her.

When she was finally released, on the condition that she took it easy and drank the tonics when needed, she and Severus returned to her house.

She was thankful to finally get out of the hospital wing and have Severus all to herself. Being in the hospital wing hadn't left much time for the two of them to discuss their relationship now that he was free. Hermione was nervous about what he would say if she brought it up. While he had put the word 'love' down on paper he had yet to say them to her out loud and she couldn't bring herself to be the first to say it.

He noticed that she was much quieter since he had gotten out and was worried. He knew what she had gone through was weighing heavily on her and was unsure what to do to help her through it.

After she had been home a couple of days he decided to suggested that they go out to the garage and brew a potion. He had spent the next day and a half getting it set up for her, hoping that having something to do would help.

Going back into the house he found her music player in the living room and took it into the garage, knowing that she liked to listen to music while brewing. Once he was certain it was ready he went up to her room and knocked on the door. She had gone up earlier to rest but he knew she wouldn't be sleeping. He went in when she answered and pulled back the blankets. "Come on get up. I have something for you to see."

They walked into the garage, now prepared like their work space back in Australia. She stopped and looked around.

"Poppy asked me to restock the cabinets for her and I thought we might work on it together."

She walked over to one of the cauldrons and saw her head phones sitting there. "What does she need?" she asked.

He fought back a smirk of satisfaction and rattled off a list to her. She nodded, put on the headphones and got to work. He kept an eye on her at first, satisfied she was alright, he started in on his own potion. They worked in silence for a while. Severus would occasionally glance over to see her relaxed for the first time in days swaying back and forth to the music as she worked.

He tried to leave her alone and let her work but he found himself looking over her direction until brewing seemed pointless. Finally finishing his potion he cleaned up his things and let himself watch. His thoughts drifted back to Australia and all the times he was distracted watching her, move side to side, her eyes closed and her hands busy, happily humming along with a song. Now seeing her able to do the same thing made him smile. He was happy she could find peace brewing potions even if only for a little while and happy he had been able to help her achieve it.

As she was about to add the final ingredient, Hermione finally felt his eyes on her and turned to look at him. He was just staring at her, his expression relaxed yet still unreadable. She glanced down at her potion then at the ingredients to the side wondering if she had made a mistake somewhere. Unable to find it she turned back to him, pulling one of the ear buds from her ear.

"What is it? Did I forget something?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No, it's perfect. Everything is perfect. Don't let me distract you." was all he said.

She gave him a half smile, unsure what that was all about and turned back to her work. A few moments later she gave it a quick last stir and ended the flame on her cauldron. She summoned the glass vials, filled and labeled them. Before she could clean her things Severus walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He had been forcing himself to stay in his seat until she was finished and now that she was he could no longer hold back.

As she turned to face him he gently lifted her chin so that she was looking him in the eye. She stared at him questioningly but didn't pull back, giving him courage to continue. He held her gaze a moment longer before brushing his hand over her cheek, "Absolutely perfect" he murmured.

She blushed at his words, finally realizing it was her and not her potion he had been speaking of before. As the color spread over her face he softly said her name causing her to look back up. He leaned forward and touched his lips to hers.

She was surprised at his actions but didn't pull back. Instead she placed her hands on his chest and leaned into him. He pulled away for a moment and allowed her to lean her head on him while wrapping his arms around her.

When they finally pulled away he saw that she was smiling but had dark circles under her eyes. As much as he wished to explore this further he knew she needed to get some sleep. With a flick of his wand he cleaned up her area then smiled back at her.

He reached down and took her hand tugging her in the direction of the house. "Come it is late, time to get you to bed."

While she got ready, he got her tonics and placed them next to her bed. He had noticed that her legs were starting to shake when they had walked up the stairs making him think that he should probably put a chair in the garage for her to sit in. Standing to brew all afternoon and evening had worn her out more than she should be right now.

He pulled back her covers and she crawled in. He saw her start to reach out then hesitate, "What is it Hermione?" He asked her.

"I just… well… will you stay with me tonight? At least for a little while."

He could hear the nervousness in her voice and nodded, "I'll be right back."

He quickly readied himself for bed then came in and crawled in bed beside her. She looked at him for a moment, biting her lip before seeming to come to a decision. He was lying on his side facing her so she quickly moved to bury her face in his chest, curling up against him. He turned out the light then placed a hand on her side, carefully holding her as she drifted off to sleep.

Severus lie awake listening as she finally fell into a deep sleep, probably the first in days, and thought about what all this could mean. He had never thought that he would be in such a place as he was now. He fell asleep thanking the gods for allowing him to have this chance with this young woman.

Severus didn't know how long he had been asleep when he awoke to Hermione sitting bolt upright in bed screaming. He reached for his wand automatically and looked around the room for what had caused her reaction. Seeing nothing he looked over to find her shaking and starting to cry. He jumped out of bed and into the bathroom to find more of her tonics to help calm her. When he came back in the room she had curled herself into a ball on her side and was sobbing. He reached for her and pulled her up, pressing the vial to her lips, telling her to drink. Once she had, he placed it on the side table and crawled back in bed with her moving her so she was curled up on his lap.

He held her close rocking her back and forth until her tears stopped and her breathing slowed. "It's okay Hermione, everything will be okay. You are safe now and no one will harm you again. You don't need to be afraid, no more dark places remember."

"I know it's over but I didn't know what was going to happen or if I would get out of there and now I just feel as though my life is stuck in the dark whenever I close my eyes."

"You don't need to be. I am here now and I'm not going anywhere. Our life starts here, together, after the dark."

She took a deep breath and relaxed into him, knowing that he was right and that as long as he was there they would be okay.

**FIN**

**A/N: Ok so that is my first H/S fic. I hope that everyone enjoyed it. I am going to finish a couple of stories in other fandoms for a bit but I will be back with another H/S fic that I am currently plotting. Thank you all for reading!**


	35. Epilogue

*****I do not own these characters just borrowing for a little while.*****

**A/N: Ok someone asked for an epilogue and I thought about it and realized there are a few loose ends that I didn't cover. So for all my wonderful readers, here it is…**

"Many of you will not understand the subtle science that is potion making. But for the few of you who do, I can teach you how to brew fame, bottle glory and even put a stopper on death."

Two hands shot up in the air. "Yes Miss Granger?"

"S- uh Professor, putting a stopper on death? Didn't you do that?"

"We are not here to discuss what feats I have accomplished. I ask that you please turn your attention to page 5 of the text and begin taking notes on the ingredients we will be using for our first potion."

Several other students looked as though they would rather stay on the topic of stopping death than research boomslang, but a sharp look from their teacher sent them scrambling to open their books. Many of them had heard what a sharp teacher the potions professor could be and didn't want to start out on the wrong foot.

When the class was finally over the students quickly tucked away their things and moved towards the door.

"Miss Granger, stay back a moment please."

The young girl stopped in her tracks and with slumped shoulders made her way to the front desk.

"Do you need a reminder that our relationship here at school will need to stay different then it is when you are at home?"

"No, Professor. It won't happen again."

"Good now run along and catch up to your classmates."

Later that night Hermione slumped down on the couch next to Severus. "How was your day?"

"Fine, the shop wasn't very busy but it let me work on some of the potions St. Mungo's needed. How was your day?" he asked her placing an arm around her shoulders and kissing her on the cheek.

"It was fine. I can already tell Bill and Fluer's little one is going to be a handful. Constantly trying to answer any question the other students ask. I think he may be my payback for how I was at Hogwarts."

Severus let out a laugh at this, thinking back to how much he use to dread her walking into his classroom.

"The hardest part is having Juliette in my class. I still can't get over the fact that the little baby my parents adopted in Australia ended up being a witch. She nearly called me sissy in class today. Can you imagine if you hadn't restored their memories there would have been two witches named Hermione running around?"

"I thank the gods everyday there is only one of you. As I said all those years ago, the world could not have handled two of you."

She rolled her eyes and nudged him in the ribs with her elbow.

She looked around their small house situated right outside Hogsmeade. "This place is strangely quiet. Where is Taily?"

"I sent her to your parents for the night. Your mother seemed in need of a dose of four year old and I thought you might enjoy a quiet night home after the first day of classes."

"You, my dear husband, are a genius."

"Yes I know." He replied.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a long, deep kiss. Pulling back she gave a wink and made her way to the back of the house. Severus jumped up and grabbed at her. She let out a little yell and smiling, ran off. Severus chased her into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. They spent the rest of the evening enjoying themselves as two parents in a house with no kid for the night will do.

**Fin. No really, this is the end this time.**


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